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Side by side
What tells them apart
Sage-leaved rockrose is low, with an oval wrinkled leaf like sage, and is not sticky. Gum rockrose is tall, narrow-leaved and always resinous.
Harmless confusion
How to tell it
Touch a leaf: it turns sticky. That resin, labdanum, is the definitive tell, and on a hot day you smell it from a distance. Narrow dark leaves, joined in pairs at the base.
How to tell it
An oval, dull green leaf, deeply wrinkled and rough, with nothing sticky about it. White five-petalled flowers with a yellow centre, lasting a single day.