Common Restharrow

Ononis repens

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Fabales

Family:

Fabaceae (Pea)

Also in this family:

Alsike Clover, Birdsfoot, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Bitter Vetchling, Black Medick, Bladder Senna, Broad Bean, Broad-leaved Everlasting Pea, Bush Vetch, Common Broom, Common Gorse, Common Laburnum, Common Vetch, Crown Vetch, Dyer's Greenweed, False Acacia, Garden Pea, Goat's Rue, Greater Bird's-foot Trefoil, Hairy Tare, Haresfoot Clover, Hop Trefoil, Horseshoe Vetch, Kidney Vetch, Lesser Trefoil, Lucerne, Meadow Vetchling, Narrow-leaved Vetch, Red Clover, Ribbed Melilot, Russell Lupin, Scottish Laburnum, Smooth Tare, Spanish Gorse, Strawberry Clover, Tall Melilot, Tree Lupin, Tufted Vetch, Western Gorse, White Clover, White Lupin, White Melilot, Zigzag Clover

Type:

Flower

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Maximum Size:

60 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Grassland, meadows, roadsides, saltmarshes, sand dunes, scrub, seaside, wasteland.

Flower:

Pink, 5 petals

Pink pea-like flowers borne in leafy spikes.

Fruit:

A linear seed pod (legume) containing 1 to 3 seeds.

Leaves:

The leaves are stalked and alternately arranged along the stems. They are compound leaves with 1 to 3 serrated, round to elliptical leaflets. The terminal leaflet is stalked. Large stipules are present at the bases of the leaves.

Aroma:

The flowers are not scented but the hairs on the leaves give out a resinous smell when bruised or damaged.

Other Names:

Cammock, Land Whin, Petty Whin, Wild Liquorice, Wild Liquorice Root.

Frequency (UK):

Occasionally seen

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map