White rock rose
Helianthemum apenninum
Family · Cistaceae · Harmless
The small rock rose with five crumpled white petals and a yellow centre, covering dry limestone slopes, its petals falling on the same day they open.
Uplands · Scrubland · Fields and pasture
Also known asApennine sun rose
How to tell it
A subshrub twenty to fifty centimetres, grey with star-shaped hairs. Narrow, opposite leaves with margins rolled under and a white underside. White flowers two to three centimetres, with a yellow patch at the petal bases and many yellow stamens in the centre. Racemes of few flowers.
What it is confused with
Common rock rose
Helianthemum nummularium
Colour decides: white with a yellow centre on this one, entirely yellow on the common one. Both are harmless and grow side by side on the same limestone.
What it is for
No use
It is worth it for a curiosity you can test in the field: rock rose stamens move when touched with a finger, spreading outward. It is one of the few plants that react visibly to the naked eye.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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