All the Chickweeds shown share Alsinaceae characteristics: small, bright, white flowers and narrow, long, opposite leaves.  Chickweeds generally are matted quite low to the ground, but several do grow to a slender 20 inches.

    The family name, "Alsinaceae", is the ancient Greek name for similar plants. 

    The 2005 Flora of North America, the Synthesis of the North American Flora, the on-line USDA Plant Database, the Intermountain Flora, and A Flora of Utah all place the following plants in Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family).  Weber places them in Alsinaceae.

Alpine. Tundra. Summer.
Upper Calico Trail, August 31, 2005.

Alsinanthe macrantha is one of several Chickweeds that whiten alpine tundra and trail-sides above tree line.  It is mat-forming and thrives in rocky, dry soils exposed to the intense alpine sun.  The plant is found in all Four Corner's states.

"Alsinanthe" is for the resemblance of this plant to the plants of the genus "Alsine" which shares its family name, "Alsinaceae".   "Macrantha" is Greek for "large-flowered".  Rydberg first named this species Alsinopsis macrantha in 1904 and House renamed it Minuartia macrantha in 1921.  Reichenbach gave the Alsinanthe genus name in 1841 and Weber believes that name takes precedence.  Linnaeus named the Minuartia genus in 1753.

Alpine. Tundra. Summer.
Sharkstooth Trail, July 17, 2006.

Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Spring.
Bear Creek Trail, June 14, 2005.

Cerastium strictum is a common, small, cute Chickweed with notched petals topping straight floral stems with few, widely-spaced, narrow, and deeply veined leaves.  Cerastium strictum is found on mountain and subalpine meadows and rocky soils.  In dry conditions it may be just two inches tall and a few inches around; as pictured here in a moist meadow, it is six inches tall, still growing, and in a mass about eight feet in diameter.  Flower stems are considerably taller than the mass of lower leaves which form a loose mat several inches deep.

Weber observes that this plant is often, and incorrectly, called Cerastium arvense.  The latter is, he maintains, an invasive species that occurs only at low altitudes as a weed.  C. strictum is "related to, if not identical to ... C. strictum of the high mountains of Eurasia".  The 2005 Flora of North America and  the Synthesis of the North American Flora join many others in calling this species Cerastium arvense subspecies strictum.  According to the Flora of North America, the species is "remarkably variable... and grows in a diversity of habitats, making it difficult to circumscribe and distinguish, both from subspecies arvense and from forms of C. beeringianum, C. velutinum, and C. viride".

Linnaeus named the genus in 1753; the genus name means "horned" and refers to its curved seed capsule.  "Strictum" means "straight" and "arvense" means "of the fields".

Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Spring.
Bear Creek Trail, June 14, 2005.

More Cerastium strictum photographs.

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, opening. Summer.
Mesa Verde National Park, Prater Ridge Trail, June 19, 2005.

Tuber Starwort most often occurs in clusters in scattered patches (because it spreads and sprouts from underground tubers). You will find it in drier lowlands and in montane moist forests.  It usually grows narrowly erect with leaves standing out at stiff right angles from the stem and leaf tips gently curved downward.  Tuber Starwort is tall for a chickweed, commonly growing from eight to fourteen inches.

A number of plants have "pseudo" ("false") in their name (Pseudocymopterus, Pseudotsuga, False Solomon’s Seal) to indicate that although they may resemble another plant, that resemblance is superficial.  In this case, "Pseudostellaria" refers to Starwort’s resemblance to the Stellaria genus of Alsinaceae, .

The Pseudostellaria genus was named by Ferdinand Pax (1858-1942) in 1934.  The species was first named Stellaria jamesiana by John Torrey but Weber and Hartman moved it to the Pseudostellaria genus in 1979.  "Jamesiana" is for the naturalist Edwin James of the Long Expedition.  (More biographical information.)

Foothills, montane. Woodlands, opening. Summer.
Mesa Verde National Park, Prater Ridge Trail, June 5, 2004.