Crinkly yellow flowers that open only by day and lance-shaped leaves white and woolly beneath, on a low mat on chalk downs
Common rock-rose.
Nature · Shrubs
Common rock-rose
Native · flowers Jun–Sep · chalk and limestone grassland, heath and coasts
Helianthemum nummularium — Cistaceae
A low, mat-forming evergreen dwarf shrub that covers chalk and limestone banks with golden, crinkly-petalled flowers in summer. The flowers open only in daylight and close at night, and the plant is the food plant of the brown argus, green hairstreak and the rare silver-studded blue butterfly.
How to spot them
- ▸Sprawling, mat-forming dwarf shrub, wiry stems, evergreen
- ▸Bright yellow, five-petalled flowers with crinkly, tissue-paper petals and many stamens, opening in daylight only
- ▸Opposite lance-shaped leaves, green above and white and woolly beneath
- ▸Look-alikes: St John's-worts have translucent-dotted leaves and stamens in bundles; bird's-foot trefoil is a pea flower; rock-rose's petals are crinkly and its leaves woolly beneath
- ▸Chalk and limestone grassland; also heath and coast, commoner in Scotland and southern England
How to know it
A host plant for the brown argus, the green hairstreak and the rare silver-studded blue butterflies
Common rock-rose (Wildlife Trusts).
Golden carpets on chalk and limestone banks belong to a low evergreen shrub of the family Cistaceae
Common rock-rose.
Its generic name means 'sun flower' for the blossoms that open only in bright daylight and close at night
Common rock-rose — Helianthemum.
A priority species under the UK post-2010 Biodiversity Framework, this lime-loving dwarf shrub feeds many bees
Common rock-rose.
Insects touching its stamens make them spring outwards, showering pollen
Common rock-rose.
Quick-fire facts
- •Helianthemum nummularium, family Cistaceae; Helianthemum is 'sun flower' (Greek), nummularium 'like a coin'
- •Wildlife Trusts: flowers June to September, five bright yellow crinkly petals; only open in daylight and close at night
- •Leaves are lance-shaped, white and woolly beneath
- •Host plant for brown argus, green hairstreak and silver-studded blue butterflies; plenty of nectar for bees
- •Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework
- •Habitat: grasslands, heathland, moorland and coastal areas, particularly abundant in southern England and Scotland
- •A low evergreen shrub, not a rose; the name reflects the resemblance to a wild rose flower
- •The stamens are sensitive: touched by an insect they spread outwards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Common rock-rose