Long White Mouse-Ear Chickweed

Long White Mouse-Ear Chickweed

　　Long White Mouse-Ear Chickweed

　　A perennial herb that grows in dense tufts, standing 6–20 cm tall, with the entire plant densely covered in spreading hairs. The rhizome is slender, ascending obliquely, and much branched. The stems are numerous, slender and weak, slightly ascending; the hairs on the lower part spread downward, while those on the upper part spread horizontally. Sometimes short axillary branches emerge from the leaf axils, densely covered with small leaf clusters. The leaves are slightly connate at the base, with both surfaces and margins covered in sparse soft hairs. The lower leaves are narrowly oblanceolate, smaller, gradually narrowed at the base into a petiole-like structure, with a slightly pointed apex; the middle stem leaves are larger, lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 1.3–2 cm long and 2–4 mm wide, wedge-shaped at the base, slightly pointed at the apex, with a distinct midvein; the upper leaves are smaller. The cyme is terminal, usually bearing 3–5 flowers; the bracts are herbaceous, broadly lanceolate, acute, and covered in sparse soft hairs; the pedicels are 4–15 mm long, densely covered in spreading hairs; the sepals are oblong-lanceolate or nearly oblong, 4–5 mm long, obtuse at the apex, with sparse soft hairs on the back, and broad white membranous margins at the apex and edges; the petals are white, slightly longer than the sepals, oblong-obovate, 5–5.5 mm long and 2–2.5 mm wide, wedge-shaped at the base, glabrous, and bifid at the apex for 1/5–1/4; there are 10 stamens, shorter than the petals, with glabrous filaments; the ovary is nearly spherical, with 5 styles. The capsule is cylindrical, 8–10 mm long, twice as long as the sepals, slightly curved at the apex, 10-toothed, with the teeth erect; the seeds are broadly ovate, slightly flattened, 0.7–0.8 mm long, with a verrucose surface. Flowering period: June to August; fruiting period: July to August.

　　It grows in alpine tundra, stony areas near high-altitude hot springs, and moist scree slopes near volcanic lakes. Distributed in China (Northeast).