Rosa sherardii × R. rubiginosa (R.
× suberecta (Woods) Ley)
Account Summary
Native, very rare.
1938; Brenan, Rev S.A. & Simpson, N.D.; Lower Lough Macnean near Belcoo.
Only three records of this hybrid exist in the Fermanagh Flora Database – one of them post-1975. All three are non-directional hybrid records, ie there is no indication given as to which rose was the dominant female parent in the cross. Additional to the first record shown above, the other two are: Corrard peninsula, Upper Lough Erne, MCM & D, 1946-54; and, scrubby woodland on limestone soil, near a farm, Finlane, Florencecourt, P. Hackney, 27 August 1976 (vouchers for the latter in BEL and DBN). The Meikle record was originally listed as R. sherardii var. suberecta (Ley) W.-Dod. in the Revised Typescript Flora.
Hybrids between these two roses are to be expected where they overlap in distribution and since R. sherardii is probably the second most common rose species in NI and R. rubiginosa tends to grow on limestone, it is not peculiar to find the hybrid confined to lime-rich areas in Fermanagh (Roses Handbook). R. × suberecta has well-developed fully fertile hips, usually with a few acicles present on them (Sell & Murrell 2014; Stace et al. 2015). The list of habitats in which this hybrid is found in B & I include open woodland, woodland margins, scrub, hedges, roadsides, cliffs, rocky hillsides, disused quarries and coastal dunes (Stace et al. 2015). The seed fertility of the hybrid helps explain its considerable colonising ability and occupation of a wide range of semi-natural and artificial (man-made) habitats.
The FNEI 3 lists seven mostly old re-determined records from Cos Down (H38), Antrim (H39) and Londonderry (H40), all of them with R. sherardii as the female parent, plus one 1990 record from Glenarm, Co Antrim which has R. rubiginosa as the female parent. The Flora of Co Dublin contains just one non-directional record from near Balbriggan. The specialist authors of the Roses Handbook list six Irish VCs with non-directional hybrids, these being Mid-Cork (H4), NE Galway (H17) and Cos Leitrim (H29), Louth (H31), Fermanagh (H33) and Antrim (H39).
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.