(mouse-ear chickweed), a genus of annual or perennial plants of the family Caryophyllaceae. The plants are usually pubescent grasses or, sometimes, subshrubs. The white flowers are generally pentamerous. They are usually umbels; only rarely are they solitary. The fruit is a pod. There are approximately 100 species, found throughout the world, but mainly in Eurasia. More than 70 species occur in the USSR, mainly on rocky mountain slopes. The starry grasswort (C. arvense) is found everywhere near dwellings, in fallow fields, in meadows, in forests, and amid shrubbery. C. biebersteinii, C. grandiflorum, and C. tomentosum are often grown as ornamentals.