Sea-spurrey, Rock

Information on Rock Sea-spurrey

Common Name: Rock Sea-spurrey
Scientific Name: Spergularia rupicola
Irish Name: CabrĂ³is na gcloch
Family Group: Caryophyllaceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Rock Sea-spurrey could sometimes be confused with:

Spurrey, Sand, Sea-spurrey, Lesser, Sea-spurrey, Greater,

This is a densely glandular, hairy perennial which grows on coastal cliffs and rocks.  The pale pink 5-petalled flower (8-12mm across) differs from other Sea spurreys in that it doesn't have a white centre.  The fact that the flowers have equal size petals and sepals also helps to differentiate this wildflower.  Each flower has 10 stamens. The narrow, flattened leaves have fine points and the plant, which blooms from June to September, reaches about 20cm high.  It is one of our native plants and it belongs to the Caryophyllaceae family. 

I found this plant growing on rocks close to Cullenstown, Co Wexford in 2009 and I photographed it at that time.   

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

This is a species for which Ireland holds or possibly holds more than 25% of the European population (Ireland Red List No. 10 Vascular Plants)

The three Sea-spurreys on this website are similar in a number of aspects.  Points which separate the three species are the length of the sepals to petals and also the number of stamens.  There exists also Sand Spurrey (Spergularia rubra) but it is quite rare in Ireland.  

Sea-spurrey, Rock
Sea-spurrey, Rock
Sea-spurrey, Rock
Sea-spurrey, Rock