''Tuberaria guttata'', the spotted rock-rose or annual rock-rose, is an annual plant of the

Mediterranean region In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin (; also known as the Mediterranean Region or sometimes Mediterranea) is the region of lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have mostly a Mediterranean climate, with mild to cool, rainy winters and wa ...

which also occurs very locally in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The flowers are very variable with the characteristic spot at the base of the petal very variable in size and intensity of colour.

Description

''Tuberaria guttata'' is an annual plant that grows to tall. It has a rosette of basal leaves, each up to long and wide, but this rosette has normally withered by the time the plant is in flower. The stems bear 2–5 opposite pairs of leaves, and a few smaller leaves higher up, arranged alternately. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

comprises around 12 flowers, in diameter. Each flower has five uneven sepals and five yellow petals usually with a dark red spot near the base. The flowers are

cleistogamous Cleistogamy is a type of automatic self-pollination of certain plants that can propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers. Especially well known in peanuts, peas, and pansies, this behavior is most widespread in the grass family. How ...

, producing little pollen and no nectar, and attracting few insect visitors, and the petals fall off after only a few hours. The centre of the flower houses around 20 stamens and a single capitate stigma. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

of ''T. guttata'' is a capsule containing many seeds, each long.

Distribution and ecology

''Tuberaria guttata'' is widely distributed in the Mediterranean region, and has a continuous distribution along the French Atlantic coast as far as the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

. Further north, its distribution is very patchy, being confined to a few localities on the west coasts of Ireland and Wales. The best-known of these populations is on the slopes of

Holyhead Mountain Holyhead Mountain (''Mynydd Twr'' in Welsh: from ''(pen)twr'', meaning "tower") is the highest mountain on Holy Island, Anglesey, and the highest in the county of Anglesey, north Wales. It lies about two miles west of the town of Holyhead, and s ...

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

. These British populations mark the northernmost limit of the species' distribution. ''Tuberaria guttata'' was chosen by

Plantlife Plantlife is the international conservation membership charity working to secure a world rich in wild plants and fungi. It is the only UK membership charity dedicated to conserving wild plants and fungi in their natural habitats and helping peo ...

as the

county flower In a number of countries, plants have been chosen as symbols to represent specific geographic areas. Some countries have a country-wide floral emblem; others in addition have symbols representing subdivisions. Different processes have been used to ...

of Anglesey in 2002. In

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, ''T. guttata'' has become naturalised in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada on the eastern edge of the Sacramento Valley. In the Mediterranean region, ''T. guttata'' is common in arid habitats from woodlands to grasslands and roadsides. In the British Isles, it grows "in bare patches of thin, dry soil overlying hard igneous rock in open areas within wind-cut heath near the sea".

Taxonomy

''Tuberaria guttata'' was first described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

as "''Cistus guttatus''" in his 1753 work '. It was transferred to the genus '' Tuberaria'' by Jules Pierre Fourreau in 1868. The Welsh populations were described as a separate species in 1844 by

Jules Émile Planchon Jules Émile Planchon (21 March 1823 – 1 April 1888) was a French botanist born in Ganges, Hérault. Biography After receiving his Doctorate of Science at the University of Montpellier in 1844, he worked for a while at the Royal Botanical G ...

. He named the plants "''Helianthemum breweri''", after

Samuel Brewer Samuel Brewer (1670–1743), was an English botanist and contemporary of Dr. Richard Richardson. He is credited with discovering certain species of plant. Life Brewer was a native of Trowbridge in Wiltshire, where he possessed a small estat ...

, who had discovered the population in 1726. This is now considered a synonym of ''T. guttata''.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q159449 Cistaceae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus