''Cymbalaria'' is a genus of about 10 species of

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial plant In horticulture, the term perennial (''wikt:per-#Prefix, per-'' + ''wikt:-ennial#Suffix, -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annual plant, annuals and biennial plant, biennials. It has thus been d ...

s previously placed in the family

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

, but recently shown by genetic research to be in the much enlarged family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

. The genus is native to southern

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. It is closely related to the genera ''

Linaria ''Linaria'' is a genus of almost 200 species of flowering plants, one of several related groups commonly called toadflax. They are annuals and herbaceous perennials, and the largest genus in the Antirrhineae tribe of the plantain family Plant ...

'' and ''

Antirrhinum ''Antirrhinum'' is a genus of plants in the Plantaginaceae family, commonly known as dragon flowers or snapdragons because of the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed. They ...

'', differing in having creeping growth and

flower Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

s borne singly rather than in dense erect spikes. The common name

toadflax Toadflax is the common name of several related genera of plants in the family Plantaginaceae, including: * '' Anarrhinum'' * ''Antirrhinum'', also called snapdragon * '' Chaenorhinum'', native to Turkey and the Mediterranean * '' Cymbalaria'' * ''L ...

is shared with ''

'' and other related genera. The scientific name means "resembling a

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

" for the somewhat rounded leaves. By far the best known species is '' Cymbalaria muralis'' (also called ivy-leaved toadflax, and Kenilworth ivy), native to southwest Europe. It has widely naturalised elsewhere and is commonly sold as a garden plant. ''C. muralis'' characteristically grows in sheltered crevices in walls and pathways, or in rocks and scree, making a trailing or scrambling plant up to 1 m long.

Species list

Accepted species are: *'' Cymbalaria aequitriloba'' (Viv.) A.Chev. *'' Cymbalaria bakhtiarica'' Podlech & Iranshahr *'' Cymbalaria glutinosa'' Bigazzi & Raffaelli *'' Cymbalaria hepaticifolia'' (Poir.) Wettst. *'' Cymbalaria longipes'' (Boiss. & Heldr.) A.Chev. *'' Cymbalaria microcalyx'' (Boiss.) Wettst. *'' Cymbalaria muelleri'' (Moris) A.Chev. *'' Cymbalaria muralis'' G.Gaertn., B.Mey. & Schreb. *''

Cymbalaria pallida ''Cymbalaria pallida'' is a purple-flowered plant native only to mountainous parts of Italy. It belongs to the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). Description ''Cymbalaria pallida'' is a perennial plant, high, with a short, pubescent and prostrat ...

'' (Ten.) Wettst. *'' Cymbalaria pluttula'' (Rech.f.) Speta *'' Cymbalaria pubescens'' (J.Presl & C.Presl) Cufod.

Taxonomy

Described as ''Cymbalaria'' by the English botanist, John Hill in 1756.

Gallery

File:Cymbalaria hepaticifolia (14056415509).jpg, '' Cymbalaria hepaticifolia'' File:Cymbalaria pallida 01.jpg, ''

'' File:Cymbalaria aequitriloba.JPG, '' Cymbalaria aequitriloba'' File:Rozier - Cours d’agriculture, tome 3, pl. 18 cymbalaire.png, ''Cymbalaria'' File:Cymbalaria sp - Flickr - S. Rae.jpg, ''Cymbalaria'' sp.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q157937 Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae genera Flora of Europe