Rosa rubiginosa L. agg., Sweet-briar
Account Summary
Native, occasional. European temperate, but widely naturalised.
1899; West, W.; Florencecourt.
June to October.
All but one of the 21 records for this bright pink-flowered rose are scattered from the shores of Lough Erne through the limestones to the W and SW of the two loughs. The typical habitats are roadside verges, hedges, scrub and stony margins of lakes, but it also crops up as an early colonist of under-grazed calcareous grassland, in the crevices (ie the grykes) in limestone pavement and in neglected areas or waste ground in quarries and around rock outcrops. In coastal counties of B & I, R. rubiginosa regularly occurs on shingle and other open scrub situations. The densely glandular, sticky, brown hairs on the under-surface of the leaflets give off a distinctive ripe apple scent when rubbed, allowing most people to easily recognise the 'Sweet-briar', also called 'Eglantine' a name that is derived from the medieval Latin meaning 'prickly' (Grigson 1974).
RHN and the current author (RSF) regard R. rubiginosa as occasional in Fermanagh, it being recorded in 16 tetrads, 3% of those in the VC. There are post-1975 records in ten tetrads. In Ireland overall, it appears an uncommon, rather thinly scattered species. The New Atlas map shows it is more frequent in the northern half and along the eastern coast of Ireland, but only very rare or absent elsewhere. The FNEI 3 account of this species aggregate strongly suggests it has declined since the 19th century in Cos Down (H38), Antrim (H39) and Londonderry (H40), there being comparatively few modern records for it: a total of just twelve stations with post-1970 records are listed. On the other hand, around the Lough Neagh area, Harron (Flora of Lough Neagh) described this rose as, "frequent but sparingly distributed". A more careful reading of his list of stations, however, shows that he is heavily reliant on observations made at the end of the 19th century by botanists such as Stewart and Praeger!
In Co Cavan (H30), Reilly (2001) regards R. rubiginosa as "rare", his local Flora mentioning only two old records from 1901 and 1938. Eighty kms further south the also recent Flora of Co Dublin records R. rubiginosa as "occasional" in hedgerows and scrub, the editors listing a mere eight stations, at two of them the shrub persisting for at least 60 years.
Sell & Murrell (2014) now recognise five varieties within R. rubiginosa. Very little is known regarding the occurrence and distribution of these recently described varieties, some of which may turn out to be very local.
Growth form and preferred habitats
A small, much branched, usually pale greyish-green, summer annual therophyte up to 10 cm tall, with digitately or palmately lobed leaves, this sexually reproducing form of Aphanes is very much more local than the apomictic A. arvensis (Parsley-piert). It is greener and more slender than the latter, flowers from April to October and has even smaller fruits than A. arvensis s.s., showing no constriction between the upper and lower parts, and the sepals are convergent (New Flora of the BI 2019, p. 277, Figs 1, 2). It is less common than A. arvensis s.s. and appears to be confined to short turf, mossy areas on acidic sandy or gravelly soils, or dry rocky ground, eg on roadsides, along tracks and in quarries and sand-pits. It is not as confined to well-drained soils as A. arvensis, but is more definitely a plant of acidic conditions (Garrard & Streeter 1983). In Fermanagh, these conditions are also found locally on or near lakeshores and on river banks.
Fermanagh occurrence
The limited number of records that have accumulated in the Fermanagh Flora Database (18 finds in 14 tetrads) are mainly the work of RHN, facts that strongly suggest this rather insignificant-looking little species is under-recorded. Otherwise, as the tetrad map shows, it appears to be very local around the Tempo area, with very few (six or seven) records elsewhere in the county.
Additional to the first record are the following: Poll Beg District, NW of Boho, 11 June 1978, M.J.P. Scannell, DBN; all the remaining records involve RHN – Knockennis, 3 km NE of Brougher Mountain, 7 July 1988; Pubble Bridge, Tempo River, 1 October 1988; fen at Feddan Bog, 8 June 1992; fields at Largy Lough, 13 August 1992; sand pit at Pubble Bridge, 11 September 1994 & 20 August 1999, with RSF; Drumcreen, Ballinamallard River, 16 April 1995; roadside Ballyreagh, 5 km NW of Tempo, 31 December 1995, with HJN; roadside at Tempo, 13 April 1996; Tully, W of Edenmore, 21 June 1997, with RSF; N of Many Burns Bridge, Many Burns River, 3 May 1999; Pubble Forest, 1 December 2001; sandpit at Pubble Bridge, 28 August 2004, with RSF; Agnaglack, 20 April 2009, with HJN; Gublusk Bay, Lower Lough Erne, 28 February 2010; Killyreagh House near Tamlagh, 10 June 2010.
British and Irish occurrence
The New Atlas map shows the species widespread throughout both islands, but much more thinly scattered in Ireland, yet with a slightly greater presence in the south and the sunny south-east corner, both areas which attract more visitors and where the local recorders are more energetic than the norm (Preston et al. 2002). Thus the mapped distribution of A. australis across the whole of Ireland suggests probable under-recording in comparison with the situation in Britain.
European and world occurrence
It stretches northwards from a scattered presence in Spain and Portugal through W Europe to S Sweden and eastwards to NE Poland, the Carpathians and the Adriatic. Very local in the Balkans and present only on the W Mediterranean Isles (Minorca, Mallorca, Sardinia and Sicily), but also recorded on Madeira (Press & Short 1994; Sell & Murrell 2014). Beyond Europe, it occurs in Morocco and Algeria and is introduced in E & S parts of N America (Hultén & Fries 1986, Map 1156).
Threats
None.