■eu 



NAT. ORDER. 



RotacecB. 



CISTUS CRETICUS. CilETAN CISTUS 



Class XIII. PoLYANDRiA. Older I. Monogynia. 



Gen. Char. Corolla, five-petalled. Calyx, five-leaved, with two 



of the leaflets smaller. 

 Spe. Char. Leaves, spatulate, ovate, petioled, nerveless, rugged. 



Cahjx, lanceolate. 



'YX'ii?, plant seldom rises to any great height — it is covered with 

 a dark-colored bark, and sends off several simple branches ; the 

 leaves are oblong, pointed, waved, rough, viscous, veined, and stand 

 in pairs upon short foot-stalks, which are broad at the base, so as 

 to nearly surround the younger branches ; \\ieJlowers arc produced 

 in succession at the extremities of the branches, in June and Jul}' — 

 they are large, of a purple-red color, marked with dark spots at 

 the base of each petal, and stand on short peduncles ; the calyx is 

 divided into five large oval-pointed persistent segments, of which 

 the two outermost are smallest ; the corolla is composed of five 

 petals, which are large, roundish, spreading, and readily fall off on 

 being touched ; the filaments are numerous, very short, slender 

 and supplied with simple anthers of an orange color ; the germen 

 is oval, and supports a short style, furnished with a flat circular 

 stigma ; the capsule is roundish, and contains many small orbicular 

 seeds. 



This shrub, which is a native of Candia and some of the 

 Islands of the Archipelago, was first cultivated in England by Mr. P 

 MiHer, in the year 1731, and is now extended to most of the princi • 



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