Cistus L.
Aromatic, evergreen shrubs. Lvs opposite, exstipulate; petioles often connate at base. Fls mostly in simple or compound terminal cymes. Bracts often large, sometimes foliose. Petals 5, mostly > 1 cm long, crumpled in bud, white or pink to purplish, often with dark blotch at base. Ovary appearing 5-(10)-locular and placentation appearing axile because of well-developed septae; style short to long; stigma large, 5-10-lobed; ovules on filiform funicles. Capsule usually 5-valved, closely invested by calyx, woody. Embryo circinate.
Key
c. 20 spp. with numerous natural hybrids, mostly Mediterranean region, a few in Canary Is. Naturalised spp. 4.
In addition to those described below, a number of other ornamental spp. and hybrids of Cistus are cultivated in N.Z. some having been introduced in recent times for erosion control. The occasionally cultivated C. populifolius L. has been recorded wild but this is unconfirmed. A sp. of the very closely related genus Halimium (Dunal) Spach, with yellow fls, is also grown for soil conservation and is often mistaken for a Cistus. However, no Cistus sp. has yellow fls although the white petals in sect. Ladanium (Spach) Willk. sometimes dry yellow.
