Mouse-Ear Chickweed
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BROUGHT TO YOU BY FARMING PASTURE WATCH Photo: BFF Wikimedia Commons BFF Wikimedia Photo: Cerastium fontanum Photo: NeelixPhoto: Commons Wikimedia Mouse-ear chickweed What is it? MOUSE-EAR CHICKWEED A short-lived (12 months) perennial (Cerastium fontanum) grows flat How to control it If you create the ideal soil conditions for to the ground, smothering pasture pasture plants and use good grazing Why is it a weed in pasture? plants, and infesting crops. spreading invasive plant that management practices, you won’t have • If left unchecked, it forms a dark competes with pasture and crops; an issue with mouse-ear chickweed. green mat of stems and leaves. can germinate all year round, but British research shows grazing sheep, • After flowering, it produces small, most commonly in spring and autumn; and regularly harrowing pasture also curved seed capsules containing seeds can be dormant in soil for up help control its spread. • tiny brown seeds that can germinate to 40 years. all year round. Where is it found? All over NZ The mouse-ear weeds Is it toxic? There are two other ‘mouse-ear’ No weeds, and it's easy to mistake them for perennial mouse-ear chickweed. Identifying features Annual mouse-ear chickweed Dark green, hairy, mouse ear-shaped (Cerastium glomeratum) looks quite Cerastium arvense leaves; small white flowers with similar but is lighter green and dies 5 petals from October-March. off in winter. Other uses Common field chickweed About Gary Young growing tips are edible, (Cerastium arvense) also spreads Gary Bosley works as PGG raw or cooked, but most people prefer like a mat, but it has smooth, Wrightson's North Island technical specialist in agronomy. hair-free common chickweed. hair-free leaves. He and his family live on a 4ha lifestyle block south-east of Auckland. PGG Wrightson Ltd (PGW) does not warrant the information’s accuracy, NOTE: We recommend you get your own independent advice before you take quality, outcome or fitness for any purpose. any action on your block. Any action you take is strictly at your own risk. arousa | iStock,arousa | Dreamstime.com Whiskybottle thisnzlife.co.nz 53.