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Papaveraceae
Ramping Fumitory
Fumaria capreolata
Ephemeral beauty rising from humble earth.
- Family
- Papaveraceae
- Genus
- Fumaria
- Native to
- Europe, Mediterranean
- Bloom season
- Spring, Summer
- Type
- annual climbing herb
- Height
- 30–100 cm
- Sunlight
- full sun to part shade
- Soil
- well-drained, disturbed ground
- Water
- low to medium
- Hardiness
- 6–10
- Lifespan
- annual
Did you know
- The name 'fumitory' comes from Latin 'fumus terrae' (smoke of the earth) — the gray-green foliage looks like rising smoke.
- It climbs by twining its leaf stalks around other plants, scrambling through hedgerows and walls.
- The flower tips darken from cream to deep crimson-black as they age, creating a two-toned effect.
- Medieval herbalists believed fumitory cleared the blood and improved skin — it appears in many old pharmacopeias.
- Ants disperse the seeds, attracted by a fleshy elaiosome (food body) attached to each seed.
Color meanings
White
smoke-like transience