Cymbalaria muralis, commonly called ivy-leaved toadflax,[3] is a low, spreading, trailing plant with small purple flowers, native to rocky habitats in southern Europe.

[4] The lower lobes of the flower are spreading while the upper ones stand up, with rounded ends and 2–3 mm long.

In Britain it may flower from May until the end of November,[10] while in Eastern Europe it does so from June to July with seeds in September.

[14] As with many plants, Cymbalaria muralis was given its first scientific name and description by the early taxonomist Carl Linnaeus.

The species was described and given a taxonomic superfluous name six years later in 1779 by the naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck as Antirrhinum hederaceum.

Likewise the botanist Richard Anthony Salisbury gave it a similar superfluous name, Antirrhinum hederifolium, in 1796.

[1] It was described by Philipp Gottfried Gaertner, Bernhard Meyer, and Johannes Scherbius with a new classification as Cymbalaria muralis in 1800.

[23] This subspecies was first described in 1925 as Cymbalaria muralis f. visianii by Sándor Jávorka using an incomplete description by Jenő Béla Kümmerle.

[24] In 1972 the Irish botanist D. A. Webb described it with its current name making the distinction from Cymbalaria pilosa, which as of 2024 is regarded as a synonym of Sibthorpia europaea by POWO.

[25] All parts of the plants are covered in fine hairs (villous) except for the seed pods, which are hairless.

[32] The common name "mother of thousands" has been applied to this species and also to Saxifraga stolonifera, Tolmiea menziesii, and Soleirolia soleirolii.

[8][32] POWO regards the native range for this species to be limited to southern Europe, in Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland, and the former Yugoslavia, with the nominate subspecies Cymbalaria muralis subsp.

[1][23] Similarly the World Plants database records it as native to the same areas, but more specifically to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Serbia, and Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia and to the small state of San Marino on the Italian peninsula.

visianii recorded by POWO as growing in the southeastern part of the species' range, only in Italy and the former Yugoslavia.

[3] From this original range it spread to much of Europe and to the rest of the world as either an accidental introduction or because of its use as a ornamental plant.

[4] A frequently repeated story is that the plants were introduced accidentally as part of a shipment of statuary to Oxford.

[40] Regardless of its status it is recorded from Ireland and Portugal in the west in every country as far east as Ukraine, Poland, and Sweden, and according to POWO it may also be found in the Baltic States, northwestern Russia, and the North Caucasus[1] with World Plants recording it in Belarus and Georgia.

[1] In North America Cymbalaria muralis has been recorded growing outside cultivation in Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, and the United States.

[41][1][37] In Canada it agreed that it grows in five provinces, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Québec.

[43] In cooler climates like Lower Silesia in Poland it grows in warm microclimates such as on south or west facing walls of structures or the embankments of rivers.

[45] Cymbalaria muralis is a generalist, attracting a wide range of pollinators, including bees, flies, and butterflies.

[10] Its taste is described as like raw garden peas[50] or bitter with a sharp numbing sensation,[10] however it has also been noted as slightly toxic by researchers Marion Cooper and Anthony Johnson.