Fumaria capreolata L., White Ramping-fumitory

Account Summary

Growth form and preferred habitats

This fairly tall, diffuse or scrambling summer or occasionally winter annual has large purple-tipped creamy white flowers. The New Atlas map and the species account by David Pearman and Chris Preston in Scarce plants in Britain both indicate that in Britain and Ireland, F. capreolata tends to be much more prevalent at the coast, on open scrub, hedge banks, old walls and cliffs. It is only occasionally found inland in lowland situations, where the habitats then include arable farmland, gardens and open waste ground. It is, however, less frequently found as a weed of disturbed ground than other species of fumitory (Stewart et al. 1994).

Variation

F. capreolata has been split into two subspecies, the one commonly found throughout Britain and Ireland is the endemic form, F. capreolata subsp. babingtonii (Pugsley) Sell. The more southerly, continental form of the species is subsp. capreolata, which is found on the Channel Isles and possibly also on the south coast of England, as well as on the European mainland.

Flowering

The flowers of F. capreolata are self-compatible and they habitually and automatically self-pollinate in the bud before they open (ie they are cleistogamous). This floral mechanism ensures an abundant seed set (D.A. Pearman & C.D. Preston, in: Stewart et al. 1994).

Seed survival in the soil

There is very little evidence available on the seed bank potential of the species, but Thompson et al. (1997) list one German reference which suggests that seed survival is merely ephemeral.

Fermanagh occurrence

F. capreolata has been recorded on three occasions in recent years. It was first recorded along with F. muralis on disturbed waste ground by the roadside as listed above. The details of the other two records are: in the grounds of the Carlton Hotel, Erne Bridge, Belleek, 12 July 2006, RHN; and S shore of Rossigh Bay near the Point, 2007, I. McNeill.

Status in Britain and Ireland

In Britain, this weedy species is regarded as indigenous, but in Ireland it has long been regarded as a probable accidental introduction. The beautifully illustrated Fumitories of Britain and Ireland (BSBI Handbook, no. 12) did not appear until the great bulk of the current Fermanagh survey was finished, but in it Murphy (2009) refers to this plant as F. capreolata subsp. babingtonii (Pugsley) P.D. Sell.

Changes in distribution

Comparison of the hectad maps of F. capreolata in the BSBI Atlas and the New Atlas indicates that this fumitory's distribution is stable at its maritime sites. However, the same maps and the prevalence of older record date classes on them suggest that the species is declining at its inland sites, to the extent indeed that it is probably only an ephemeral casual in the latter (BSBI Atlas; P.J. Wilson, in: Preston et al. 2002). The frequency of occurrence of F. capreolata in Northern Ireland compared to the Republic of Ireland is quite marked in the New Atlas map, but this probably is an artefact simply reflecting recorder effort.

Fumitories of Britain and Ireland (Murphy 2009) features hectad distribution maps with increasing dot size for more recent records. This visual representation makes it even more obvious that fumitories are much more actively sought in some areas of Britain and Ireland than elsewhere.

Names

The genus name 'Fumaria' is derived from the apothecaries' Mediaeval Latin 'fumus terrae', meaning 'smoke from the earth', a poetic allegory of the way F. officinalis spreads its pale blue-green, diffuse foliage across the soil surface supposedly like smoke when seen from a distance (Grigson 1974). The Latin specific epithet 'capreolata' means 'with tendrils', although in fact the plant has no tendrils, scrambling and climbing instead using its twisting or coiling leaf stalks or petioles (Murphy 2009; Parnell & Curtis 2012). There are no specific English common names for this species in Britten & Holland (1886), but see entry under Fumaria officinalis. The name 'White Ramping-fumatory' is a book name of recent origin.

Threats

None.

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