Syn.: Cistus fumana L., Cistus nudiflorus Lam., Fumana nudifolia (Lam.) Janchen, Fumana vulgaris Spach, Helianthemum fumana (L.) Mill., Helianthemum procumbens Dunal
Family: Cistaceae Juss.
Distribution: Southern Europe, Asia Minor, Iran, northward to Belgium, southern Germany and southern Moravia, separately in Bohemia, Thuringia and on the Baltic islands (Öland and Gotland).
Ecology: It grows on rocky slopes, dry rocks and sands, always on limestone. It blooms from June to August. The flowers come out only a few hours.
Description: Procumbent dwarf shrub, with spreading branches 10–30 cm long. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, linear, subtrigonous, mucronate. Flowers 1–4, solitary in the axils of leaves, pedicels about as long as the adjacent leaves, the two outer sepals small, the three inner large, scarious, petals 5, obovate, yellow. The fruit is a capsule.
Threat and protection: The Sprawling Needle Sunrose is protected by law in Czechia and Slovakia.
These images were taken in Czechia, Moravia, Mikulov, Svatý kopeček (July 11, 2004).
