This is definitely a plant you would expect to find growing out of a crack in a rock or on top of a stone wall. I also seem to see it thrive if the rocks are acidic. Here in Cheshire it wasn't much mentioned as a plant of the Sandstone ridge which provides this County with hills in its centre, but it has spread fast in the last decade taking to the acid porous sandstone like a weed in ploughed field. In the sixteenth century Umbilicus rupestris took a liking to many stone buildings and even grew on London's Westminster Abbey.

Umbilicus rupestris has a decidedly western distribution on mainland Britain. It is very common in Wales, Cornwall and Devon and also on the Ayrshire coast in south western Scotland but it is not very common elsewhere. It is common in Ireland with the highest density in the west.

Sychnant Pass rocks, Near Conway, North Wales 26th June 2005

Added on November 26th 2004, updated 18th February 2012