“ Cymbalaria … .. runneth and spreadeth on the earth and clymeth and hangeth on wall even as Ivie or Chickweed doth , the branch are verie belittled , round and smooth , limmer and pliant . ”
John Goodyer , seventeenth Century Botanist .
I ’ve been up northward this weekend , sampling the delights of Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire . What a fine town Beverley is , blessed with a long and absorbing account , freehanded architecture , friendly people and ample good shop . I book my train just the ticket month ago , before detailed system had been made , and so I find myself kill time in a coffee berry shop class before my train departs for Hull , and thence to London ’s King ’s Cross . My bag weighs a metric ton as a consequence of having purchase a XII industrial plant book in various Polemonium van-bruntiae and second - hand shops , hence I ca n’t move very far or very tight .
Approaching Beverley post by way of Friar ’s Lane I go across a brick paries festoon with one of my favourite wild flowers , the ivy - leaved devil’s flax ( Cymbalaria muralis ) . This diminutive plant uprise in my wall at household , forming a delicate veil of foliage broider with diminutive lilac flower from April until October . During mild wintertime efflorescence may be continuous , with each bloom resemble a Lilliputian snapdragon . The effect is magical , as if the plant justly belong to a miniature world where fairies apply it to hide their tiny front door from prying eyes .
It is thought that ivy - leaved toadflax arrived in England as a stowaway in a consignment of marble sculptures being transported from Italy to Oxford , perhaps explain the substitute common names ‘ coliseum ivy ’ , ‘ Oxford ivy ’ and ‘ Oxford weed ’ . Another story has it that seedlings filch out of the Chelsea Physic Garden at some point in the 17th Century . Either agency , this Southern Europe encroacher ground British weather to its liking and quickly colonised the paries of stately domicile and cottage gardens , paying no heed to social barriers .
Despite the plant ’s most common name – and it has been anointed with more than a few – the foliage of ivy - depart toadflax is more maple - like than ivy - mold to my mind . Meanwhile the Latin nameCymbalariaalludes to the leaves resemble cymbals . Again , quite a stint of the imagination call for to make that connectedness . What ’s for sure is that each apple - greenish leaf has five rounded lobe , a waxy grain and a fine edge of burgundy - red . The sprawl halt , which can grow to a duration of three groundwork , are also reddish in vividness . They possess a special character which allows the industrial plant to spread and regenerate rapidly . Initially flowering stem are positively phototropic , meaning they move towards the light , but once successfully pollenate they become negatively phototropic . The stems vary tack and search iniquity , in doing so pushing fresh seed into a new corner or cranny where it is more likely to gain a foot - hold . It ’s a apt piece of plant life engine room . As a outcome it ’s not uncommon to find wall all shrouded in common ivy - depart toadflax . In the garden this is not a trouble as any unwanted leafage can quick be deplumate away . I let it do its own thing until it becomes too bushy and then I slay the excess and let it start again .
Each flower is a midget marvel . Three pronounced lobes are proudly presented beneath a lemon - yellow cleft : in bright sunlight this part may fade to white . Above the fissure two further lobe adhere up like a cony ’s capitulum , each one delicately streaked with purple . A little gad at the back of the flower is a much deeper violet . The flowers are pollenate by bee , some of which nest in wall , so from that period of view it is a utilitarian nutrient source and valuable improver to any wildlife - friendly garden . Less helpfully the impenetrable stems form an invisibility cloak for snails . If you look beneath them you will often regain tens of the blighters poised and ready to produce havoc after nighttime .
common ivy - leaved toadflax is not a British native but has been so wide naturalised in the UK for so long as to be an honorary member of our limited vegetation . If you have wall , ivy - leaved toadflax will more often than not find you in time , but , should you need an introduction , seed can be purchased from Chiltern Seeds and other reputable reference . Plant in sun and ivy - leaved devil’s flax will remain reasonably compact and floriferous ; industrial plant in the nicety and it will adventure further . After that it will go forward to fix up itself artfully yr after class , rewarding you with a cheery curtain of minuscule blossom from spring until autumn . TFG .
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Categories : Climbers , Flowers , Foliage , history , Photography , Plant Portraits , Plants , Seeds and Sowing , Wild Flowers
Posted by The Frustrated Gardener
