Tuberaria is a genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of about 112 species of annual

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 or perennial

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae

Cistaceae

The Cistaceae is a small family of plants known for its beautiful shrubs, which are profusely covered by flowers at the time of blossom...

, native to western and southern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

. They occur on dry, stony sites, often close to the sea.

The leaves

Leaf

A leaf is an organ of a vascular plant, as defined in botanical terms, and in particular in plant morphology. Foliage is a mass noun that refers to leaves as a feature of plants....

 are in a rosette at the base of the plant, and then in opposite pairs up the stem; they are simple oval, 2-5 cm long and 1-2 cm broad. The flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s are 2-5 cm diameter, with five petals, yellow with a red spot at the base of each petal, the red spot acting as a 'target' for pollinating insect

Insect

Insects are a class of living creatures within the arthropods that have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body , three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, and two antennae...

s.

Tuberaria species are used as food plants by the larva

Larva

A larva is a distinct juvenile form many animals undergo before metamorphosis into adults. Animals with indirect development such as insects, amphibians, or cnidarians typically have a larval phase of their life cycle...

e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 species including the Coleophora

Coleophora

Coleophora is a very large genus of moths of the family Coleophoridae. It contains some 1,350 described species. The genus is represented on all continents, but the majority are found in the Nearctic and Palaearctic regions...

case-bearers C. confluella (recorded on T. guttata) and C. helianthemella (recorded on T. lignosa).

Species

• Tuberaria acuminata
• Tuberaria brevipes
• Tuberaria bupleurifolia
• Tuberaria echioides
• Tuberaria globulariifolia
• Tuberaria guttata
  Tuberaria guttata
  Tuberaria guttata, the spotted rockrose, is a common plant of the Mediterranean region which also occurs very locally in Wales and Ireland. The flowers are very variable with the characteristic spot at the base of the petal very variable in size and intensity of colour.The plant typically grows in...
  
  – Spotted Rockrose
• Tuberaria lignosa
• Tuberaria macrosepala
• Tuberaria major
• Tuberaria praecox
• Tuberaria villosissima