Cerastium diffusum Pers.

Plants annual, with slender taproot. Stems decumbent or ascending, diffusely branched, 7.5-30 cm, densely covered and viscid with short, glandular hairs; small axillary tufts of leaves ab-sent. Leaves not marcescent, ses-sile distally, spatulate to pseudopetiolate proximally; blade 5-10 × 2-4 mm, covered with short, glandular and eglandular hairs; proximal blades oblanceolate, apex obtuse; cauline blades ovate or oblong-ovate, apex acute. Inflorescences lax, 3-30-flowered cymes; bracts lanceolate to ovate, herbaceous, glandular-pubescent. Pedicels straight, ultimately erect in fruit, slender, 2-15 mm, much longer than capsule, glandular. Flowers 4(-5)-merous; sepals lanceolate, 4-7 mm, margins narrow distally, apex acute or acuminate, glandular-pubescent, hairs usually not projecting beyond apex; petals ca. 3 mm, ca. 0.75 times as long as sepals, apex 2-fid; stamens 4(-5); styles 4(-5). Capsules narrowly cylindric, nearly straight, 5-7.5 mm, 1-1.5 times as long as sepals; teeth 8 or 10, erect, margins convolute. Seeds reddish brown, 0.5-0.7 mm, bluntly tuberculate; testa not inflated. 2n = 72.

Disturbed areas.