Cymbalaria muralis P. Gaertn., B. Mey. & Scherb., Ivy-leaved
Toadflax
Account Summary
Introduced, neophyte, garden escape, occasional, locally frequent.
1900; Praeger, R.Ll.; Co Fermanagh.
March to December.
Growth form and preferred habitats
A slender-stemmed, hairless or almost so perennial with fibrous roots, the stems of C. muralis can vary from 10-80 cm long, are pale green in colour, often suffused with purple and mainly creep and trail, rooting at intervals, in and along old walls with lime mortar. The species also occurs much more rarely on limestone rocks and screes in natural habitats, as it does locally in Fermanagh at Knockninny Hill and on the cliffs and screes above Doagh Lough.
An early 17th century garden introduction from the Mediterranean to these isles (possibly dating from 1602), it was probably deliberately planted for decoration in walled gardens for its small, but plentifully produced flowers over a long season from May to November, although the main period is from May to September. The irregular toadflax-like flowers are pale mauve in colour, marked with a white and lemon-yellow swollen (personnate) lower lip. The flowers, which are borne singly in the axils of the leaves, also each bear a short, curved spur. The leaves are pale yellowish-green, sometimes suffused purple. They are thick in texture, usually 5-lobed, ivy-shaped and borne on long stalks. The leaves usually are alternate and their undersurfaces are a reddish-purple colour (Grieve 1931; Salisbury 1964; Ellis 1993; Sell & Murrell 2007).
After its escape from cultivation, which is believed to have first taken place around 1640, C. muralis spread widely in lowland B & I and is sometimes abundantly present, or as Salisbury (1964) so beautifully describes it, [it] "not infrequently exhibits an undesirable luxuriance to which the popular names of Roving Jenny and Mother-of-thousands pay recognition.". Clearly from this, C. muralis is an aggressive coloniser of suitable old lime-rich walls, pavement crevices, rocks, screes and quarries, habitats where it can then readily establish and may persist indefinitely (Grigson 1987; Ellis 1993). The established strategy of C. muralis is categorized as R/CSR meaning intermediate between Ruderal and a more balanced mix of all three strategies, Competitor, Stress-tolerator and Ruderal (Grime et al. 1988, 2007).
The spread of the species once it has arrived on a wall or rock is easily understood as the fruit-bearing stalks bend away from light and thus position the capsule, containing up to 40 very small seeds, in dark crevices (Salisbury 1964).
It is remarkable in being one of the very few species which plant physiologists categorise as behaving in a 'negatively phototropic' manner, since almost all other plants react to directional light by bending towards it (ie they are positive in their 'tropic' response to light).
Pollination, fruit, seed and dispersal
The flowers are pollinated by Hymenoptera, mainly bees and if this does not occur, they self-pollinate (Fitter 1987; Sell & Murrell 2007). The ripe, globose, fruit capsule opens by two side pores, the margins of which usually split into six teeth: the three teeth on the lower side are more prominent and the three upper ones are smaller (Clapham et al. 1987). Each capsule usually contains 15-40 dull black, rounded seeds that bear thick curved (flexuous) ridges on their surfaces and are 0.6-0.8 mm in diameter (Salisbury 1964; Clapham et al. 1987).
Dispersal of C. muralis to new, distant sites is presumably by wind on account of the small size and lightweight nature of the seeds, though Salisbury (1964) suggests birds probably also effect carriage. Having said this, Ellis (1993) notes that Ivy-leaved Toadflax is one of those alien invaders that, while common and widespread throughout B & I, has maintained a close relationship with man and is rarely found any great distance from human habitation.
Germination takes place in both spring and autumn and the percentage success is high. Seed is the normal method of reproduction but, in addition, plant fragments can root readily under favourable conditions and achieve some measure of vegetative reproduction (Salisbury 1964).
Variation
There is sufficient natural variation within the species for two subspecies to be recognised by Stace (1997) and Sell & Murrell (2007), differing with respect to hairiness. However, since subsp. visianii (plant hairy in ± all of its parts) has so far been recorded in only a handful of sites including Wisley in Surrey (VC 17) (Clement & Foster 1994), the plant has not yet been differentiated beyond the species level in Fermanagh!
Albino forms with no red pigment in the stems, leaves and flowers occur and are also said to be not uncommon (Ellis 1993).
Fermanagh occurrence
C. muralis has been recorded in 48 widely scattered tetrads in the VC (9.1%), although not unexpectedly, these are mainly in the lowlands near habitation and only much more rarely is it found in natural or semi-natural limestone habitats.
British and Irish occurrence
Ivy-leaved Toadflax is very common, widespread and well-established on suitably dry or well-drained, calcareous rocky, stony, wall or pavement habitats throughout lowland B & I.
European and world occurrence
C. muralis is native in the southern Alps, W Yugoslavia, C & S Italy and Sicily. It has been cultivated and is now naturalised on walls and more rarely on stony ground or shingle, across most of S, W & C Europe from Holland southwards (Grieve 1931; D.A. Webb, in: Tutin et al. 1972; Clapham et al. 1987; Sell & Murrell 2007).
Uses
Ivy-leaved toadflax has anti-scorbutic properties and being acrid and pungent has been eaten like cress in salads in southern Europe (Grieve 1931).
Names
The genus name 'Cymbalaria' is said to be from Greek 'kymbalon', or Latin 'cymbalum', meaning 'cymbal' or 'cymbal-like', supposedly from the form (shape) of the leaves (Gilbert-Carter 1964; Gledhill 1985; Stearn 1992). As the leaves of C. muralis are definitely and quite obviously 'ivy-like', the current author does not follow this argument at all, but it is possible that the leaves of some of the other 14 species of the genus are cymbal-like. The Latin specific epithet 'muralis', 'growing on walls', fits perfectly (Stearn 1992).
Some of the many common names the species has accumulated in the last 400 years indicate its fecundity, for example, 'Mother of thousands' and 'Mother of millions', or even, 'Fleas and lice' (Grigson 1955, 1987)! In Italy, it is the 'Plant of the Madonna', which again may reflect fertility, as perhaps does another name 'Travelling sailor’, which at the same time refers to its considerable dispersal ability (Mabey 1996)! Grigson (1955, 1987) lists a total of 28 English common names, many of them including word-elements such as 'creeping', 'climbing', 'rambling', 'roving' and 'wandering'.
Threats
None.