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Cymbalaria muralis
Also called Kenilworth Ivy, Coliseum Ivy, Oxford Ivy, Wandering Sailor, Ivy Leaf Toadflax, Mother Of Thousands, Pennywort
Ivy-leaved toadflax is a low, trailing plant with small purple snapdragon-like flowers, native to rocky habitats in southern Europe and widely naturalised elsewhere. It grows readily in cracks, walls and rock gardens, and needs little more than sun and well-drained soil.
Cymbalaria muralis, commonly called ivy-leaved toadflax, is a low, spreading, trailing plant with small purple flowers, native to rocky habitats in southern Europe. It belongs to the plantain family (Plantaginaceae), and is introduced and naturalised in many other temperate locations. The flower stalk is unusual for seeking light until it is fertilized, after which it grows away from the light. Other names include coliseum ivy, Kenilworth ivy, mother of thousands, Oxford ivy, and wandering sailor.
POWO regards the native range for this species to be limited to southern Europe, in Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslavia, with the nominate subspecies Cymbalaria muralis subsp. muralis also occurring throughout this range. Similarly the World Plants database records it as native to the same areas, but more specifically to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia and to the small state of San Marino on the Italian peninsula. It also shows it as native to additional areas north east of the Alps such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Liechtenstein, and many Atlantic Ocean islands such as the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, and the Cape Verde Islands.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Cymbalaria muralis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
