''Cerastium nigrescens'', commonly known as the Shetland mouse-ear, Shetland mouse-eared chickweed or Edmondston's chickweed, is an

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

found in

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, Scotland. It was first recorded in 1837 by botanist Thomas Edmondston, who was 12 at the time. For a long time it was synonymised with arctic mouse-ear '' Cerastium arcticum'' but it is now widely regarded as a separate species. Although reported from two other sites in the 19th century, it currently grows only on two

serpentine Serpentine may refer to: Shapes * Serpentine shape, a shape resembling a serpent * Serpentine curve, a mathematical curve * Serpentine, a type of riding figure Science and nature * Serpentine subgroup, a group of minerals * Serpentinite, a ...

hills on the island of

Unst Unst (; sco, Unst; nrn, Ønst) is one of the North Isles of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. It is the northernmost of the inhabited British Isles and is the third-largest island in Shetland after Mainland and Yell. It has an area of . Unst ...

(see

Keen of Hamar Keen of Hamar is a nature reserve on Unst, in Shetland, Scotland, managed by Scottish Natural Heritage. The reserve is primarily of botanical interest, for example for populations of '' Cerastium nigrescens'', a plant unique to Unst. Keen of Ha ...

). The numbers of ''Cerastium nigrescens'' can vary dramatically from year to year, for reasons that are unclear (probably due to a varying rates of seedling germination and survival), but the underlying trend seems stable, and there has been no change in its distribution. Mature plants may be not much more than a single shoot with one flower or can be a fist-sized cushion with as many as 40 flowers. Flowers look disproportionately large compared with the size of the plant.

References

*Scott, W. & Palmer, R. 1987. ''The Flowering Plants and Ferns of the Shetland Islands''. Shetland Times, Lerwick. *Scott, W. Harvey, P., Riddington, R. & Fisher, M. 2002. ''Rare Plants of Shetland.'' Shetland Amenity Trust, Lerwick.

External links

* * nigrescens Endemic flora of Scotland Biota of Shetland Plants described in 1837 1837 in Scotland Endemic biota of the Scottish islands {{Caryophyllaceae-stub