Iberis amara - Wild Candytuft

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Equisetopsida - Order: Brassicales - Family: Brassicaceae

Wild Candytuft, also known as Bitter Candytuft and Annual Candytuft, is a cushion-forming annual with slightly scented flowers.

Description

Wild Candytuft produces cushions of many flat-topped flower clusters (corymbs) each bearing typically 20 to 30 individual flowers. Plants can grown up to 40cm tall but are more typically 15 to 30cm in helght, The individual flowers, typically 7 to 12mm across, each have four white or mauve-tinted petals, the outer pair up to twice as long as the inner pair - most noticeably so in those at the outer edge of a cluster or corymb. (In cutivation, many more strident colour forms have been developed, and these sometimes appear confusingly as garden escapes well away from habitation.)

Leaves of Wild Candytuft are darkish green, sometimes tinged with purple, and are slightky toothed towars the apex. The lower leaves are spathulate and 4 to 8cm long, while smaller more triangular leaves - botanic term cuneate - that are narrower at the base, are distributed up the flowering stems.

Distribution

Native and common in the central and western Mediterranean region and in some parts of Central Europe, this plant is also recorded as a native wildflower in parts of North Africa and western Asia. Elsewhere, including Britain, Ireland, North America and Australia, this is is an introduced garden plant that readily escapes and spreads in the wild.

Habitat

Dry sandy or gravelly coastal soils are the natural habitat of Wild Candytuft in its native Mediterranean region. This species favours sunny locations but survives in dryish shady places too.

Etymology

The genus name Iberis may come from the Greek word for cress, or it may be a reference to the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) where this plant is most common, The specific epithet amara comes from Latin and means 'bitter'.

Similar Species

In the Algarve, in particular, we often see Burnt Candytuft Aethionema saxatile which is quite similar to Wild Candytuft

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