Rosa sherardii Davies, Sherard's Downy-rose
Account Summary
Native, occasional. European temperate.
June 1949; Brenan, J.P.M. & Simpson, N.D.; Belcoo, Lough Macnean.
May to October.
In common with R. tomentosa, the taxonomy of this downy-leaved rose species has been complicated and confused, with numerous variety and form names being appended, particularly in the Praeger and Meikle eras up until 1950. The Roses Handbook suggests that there appears to be more regional variation in R. sherardii than in most British wild roses and Sell & Murrell (2014) support this idea. The latter reference lists no less than eight separate varieties of R. sherardii.
The rose treatment in the FNEI 3, the Roses Handbook and the New Atlas all strongly lead RHN and the current author (RSF) to believe that R. sherardii is a much more common rose in B & I than the Fermanagh Flora Database would suggest. Allowing for the suggestion made by Hackney in the FNEI 3 (p. 194), repeated in the Flora of Co Dublin (p. 232), that a large proportion of the records listed in the past as the R. tomentosa group may well belong to R. sherardii, this would still leave the latter trailing far behind R. canina in terms of frequency in Fermanagh. Until concerted systematic work on roses is undertaken in the VC using the improved modern identification texts that are now available, it is not possible to comment further on this possibility.
As R. sherardii is currently represented in the Fermanagh Flora Database, it is the third most widespread hedgerow rose, lying behind R. canina and R. tomentosa with records in 25 tetrads (4.7%). Fifteen tetrads contain post-1975 records. R. spinosissima with 36 records is more frequent than R. sherardii, but it occurs in a mere 22 tetrads! The New Atlas map shows R. sherardii to be widespread in both B & I, but while there is a shared northern predominance observable on both islands, in the RoI this rose is more frequently recorded in the east and the far south, while in Britain the species has a definite western tendency throughout. The apparent Irish distribution of this rose may simply reflect the inescapable facts that on account of hybridisation, roses are not easy to identify, field botanists are rare and in the Republic most of them reside in and around Dublin. The secondary RoI concentration of rose hectads around Cork city reflects the presence of one very active and competent recorder, Mr T. O'Mahony.
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.