[3] German botanist Heinrich Gottlieb Ludwig Reichenbach was the first to describe the species in 1841, although he listed it as a variety subtriflorum of taxon Cerastium lanuginosum.

Later Reichenbach mentioned the species in his work Flora Germanica Exsiccata under the name C. latifolium subtriflorum Rchb.

[5] This hirsute and glandular perennial[5] species is a small and low growing plant that can reach up to 30 centimetres of height.

It occupies both lowland regions and the alpine vegetation belt at elevations up to 2000 m. Its habitat usually contains calcareous substrate; most of the times the species can be found on rocky grasslands, screes, cliffs and in forest on humid stony ground.

[5] The current distribution is thought to be connected with Pleistocene glaciations, with the South-Eastern Alps serving as the plant's refugium and allowing endemic species to prosper.