Charm production in nonresonant<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>e</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mo>+</mml:mo></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:mrow></mml:math><mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msup><mml:mrow><mml:mi>e</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mi mathvariant="normal">−</mml:mi></mml:mrow></mml:msup></mml:mrow></mml:math>annihilations at<i>√s =</i>10.55 GeV

We report results on the differential and total cross sections for inclusive production of the charmed particles ${D}^{\mathrm{*}+}$, ${D}^{\mathrm{*}0}$, ${D}^{0}$, ${D}^{+}$, ${D}_{s}$, and ${\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}}_{\mathit{c}}$ in ${\mathit{e}}^{+}$${\mathit{e}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}$ annihilations at \ensuremath{\surd}s=10.55 GeV. Widely used quark fragmentation models are discussed and compared with the measured charmed-particle momentum distributions. This comparison, as well as that with measurements at other center-of-mass energies, shows the need to take QCD corrections into account and their importance for a correct interpretation of the model parameters. The observed rate of ${D}^{0}$ and ${D}^{+}$ production is compared to the expected total charm production cross section. We measure the probability of a charmed meson being produced as a vector meson and the ${D}^{\mathrm{*}+}$ decay branching fraction into ${D}^{0}$${\ensuremath{\pi}}^{+}$.