Umbilicus rupestris

Umbilicus rupestris (*)

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Saxifragales

Familia: Crassulaceae
Subfamilia: Sempervivoideae
Tribus: Umbiliceae
Genus: Umbilicus
Species: Umbilicus rupestris
Name

Umbilicus rupestris (Salisb.) Dandy in H.J. Riddelsdell, G.W. Hedley & W.R. Price, Fl. Gloucestershire: 611 (1948).
Synonyms

Replaced synonym
Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris L., Sp. Pl. 1: 429 (1753).
Basionym
Cotyledon rupestris Salisb., Prodr. Stirp. Chap. Allerton: 307 (1796).
Homotypic
Cotyliphyllum umbilicus Link, Handbuch 2: 23 (1831).
Heterotypic
Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris var. tuberosa L., Sp. Pl. 1: 429 (1753).
Cotyledon tuberosa (L.) Halácsy, Consp. Fl. Graec. 1: 577 (1901).
Cotyledon ombilicus Lam., Encycl. 2: 140 (1786)
Cotyledon umbilicata Lam., Fl. Franç. 3: 59 (1779).
Umbilicus umbilicatus (Lam.) Breistr., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 121: 64 (1974).
Umbilicus pendulinus DC. in J.B.A.M.de Lamarck & A.P.de Candolle, Fl. Franç., ed. 3, 4: 383 (1805).
Cotyledon pendulina (DC.) Batt. in Battandier & Trabut, Fl. de l´Alger. (Dicot.) 329 (1888).
Cotyledon pendulina (DC.) Vierh., Verh. Zool.-Bot. Ges. Wien 69: 224 (1919).
Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris subsp. pendulina (DC.) Batt. in Battandier & Trabut, Fl. Algérie: 329 (1888).
Cotyledon umbilicifolia Stokes, Bot. Mat. Med. 2: 545 (1812).
Cotyliphyllum erectum Link, Handbuch 2: 23 (1831).
Umbilicus simplex K.Koch, Linnaea 19: 41 (1846).
Umbilicus deflexus Pomel, Nouv. Mat. Fl. Atl. 2: 324 (1875).
Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris f. deflexa (Pomel) Batt.
Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris var. deflexa (Pomel) Maire, Cat. Pl. Maroc 2: 326 (1932).
Umbilicus patulus Pomel, Nouv. Mat. Fl. Atl. 2: 323 (1875).
Cotyledon umbilicus-veneris var. patula (Pomel) Maire, Fl. Afrique N. 14: 277 (1977).
Umbilicus aetneus Tornab., Fl. Sicul.: 249 (1887).
Umbilicus vulgaris Batt. & Trab., Fl. Algérie Tunisie: 133 (1905).
Cotyledon neglecta Cout., Fl. Portugal, ed. 2: 336 (1939).
Umbilicus neglectus (Cout.) Rothm. & P.Silva, Agron. Lusit. 3: 88 (1940).
Umbilicus pendulinus var. truncatus Wolley-Dod, J. Bot. 52: 12 (1914).
Umbilicus rupestris var. truncatus (Wolley-Dod) G.D.Rowley, Natl. Cact. Succ. J. 11(3): 60 (1956).
Umbilicus pendulinus var. velenovskyi Rohlena ex H.Jacobsen, Handb. Sukkulent. Pfl. 2: 1118 (1954).
Umbilicus rupestris var. velenovskyi (Rohlena ex H.Jacobsen) G.D.Rowley, Natl. Cact. Succ. J. 11(3): 60 (1956).

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Continental: Europe
Regional: Northern Europe
Great Britain, Ireland.
Regional: Middle Europe
Switzerland.
Regional: Southwestern Europe
Baleares, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain.
Regional: Southeastern Europe
Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Kriti, Sicilia, Turkey-in-Europe, Yugoslavia (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina, North Macedonia).
Continental: Africa
Regional: Northern Africa
Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia.
Regional: Macaronesia
Azores, Madeira.
Continental: Asia-Temperate
Regional: Caucasus
North Caucasus, Transcaucasus.
Regional: Western Asia
Cyprus, East Aegean Islands, Sinai, Turkey.
Regional: Arabian Peninsula
Saudi Arabia.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References
Primary references

Dandy, J.E. 1948. Flora of Gloucestershire 611.

Links

Hassler, M. 2019. Umbilicus rupestris. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2019. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Dec 21. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2019. Umbilicus rupestris. Published online. Accessed: Dec 21 2019.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Umbilicus rupestris in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Dec 21. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2019. Umbilicus rupestris. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Dec 21.
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Umbilicus rupestris in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Echter Venusnabel
English: wall pennywort, navelwort
suomi: Kallionapalehti
galego: couselo

Umbilicus rupestris, the navelwort,[1] penny-pies or wall pennywort, is a fleshy, perennial, edible flowering plant in the stonecrop family Crassulaceae in the genus Umbilicus so named for its umbilicate (navel-like) leaves.

Etymology
Detail of Umbilicus rupestris near Stirling, Scotland

Both the name "navelwort" and the scientific name Umbilicus come from the round shape of the leaves, which have a navel-like depression in the center.
Description

Wall pennywort grows to an average of 25 cm (9.8 in) high. The pallid spikes of bell-shaped, greenish-pink flowers of this plant first appear in May, and the green fruits ripen through the summer.
Distribution

The plant is found in southern and western Europe, often growing on shady walls or in damp rock crevices that are sparse in other plant growth (thus, "wall" pennywort), where its succulent leaves develop in rosettes.

It is not at present under threat.[2]
Medicinal usage
Umbilicus rupestris in bloom in Nazaré, Portugal. The flower can turn red in sunlight.

Umbilicus rupestris is not the same "Pennywort" as the one used in Asian medicine, which is the unrelated Asiatic Pennywort, Centella asiatica.

Umbilicus rupestris is used in homeopathic medicine. Navelwort is referred to as Cotyledon umbilicus by Homeopaths, since that was the original scientific name of navelwort when Homeopathy was developed.

Navelwort is also assumed to be the "Kidneywort" referred to by Nicholas Culpeper in The English Physician, although it may actually refer to the unrelated Anemone hepatica. Culpeper used astrology, rather than science, to classify herbs, and as such is not a reliable source. He claimed:

The juice or the distilled water being drank, is very effectual for all inflammations and unnatural heats, to cool a fainting hot stomach, a hot liver, or the bowels: the herb, juice, or distilled water thereof, outwardly applied, heals pimples, St. Anthony's fire, and other outward heats. The said juice or water helps to heal sore kidneys, torn or fretted by the stone, or exulcerated within; it also provokes urine, is available for the dropsy, and helps to break the stone. Being used as a bath, or made into an ointment, it cools the painful piles or hæmorrhoidal veins. It is no less effectual to give ease to the pains of the gout, the sciatica, and helps the kernels or knots in the neck or throat, called the king's evil: healing kibes and chilblains if they be bathed with the juice, or anointed with ointment made thereof, and some of the skin of the leaf upon them: it is also used in green wounds to stay the blood, and to heal them quickly.

Properties

Vulnerary: The plant is sometimes employed to ease pain on scratches by applying the leaf to the skin after removing the lower cuticle.