CHAP. XI. CISTA‘CEH. CI’STUS. 317 
in the present chapter, though we are convinced that most of the species 
described are mere varieties, some of them of the most fugitive kind. Our own 
opinion is, that all the different alleged species of the genera Cistus, Helianthe- 
mum, and Hudsonia are, properly, only races or varieties of three or four ab- 
original forms. The Cistacee have no medical properties ; but the resinous 
balsamic substance called ladanum or labdanum is produced from C. créticus, 
C. ladaniferus, C. /aurifolius, and one or two other species. (See Mag. Nat. 
Hist., vol. ii. p. 408.) Some of the species which inhabit Turkey and Greece are 
liable, in those countries, to be injured by the growth of the hypocistis on their 
roots. The hypocistis is the Cytinus Hypocistis Z., Gynandria Octandria L., 
Aristolochiée Juss., and Cytinee R. Br. It is nearly allied to Nepénthes and 
Aristolochia; and is a succulent parasite of a rich red colour, bearing a distant 
resemblance in size and form to the Orobanche. It has been known from the 
days of Theophrastus, but, as far as we know, has never been seen in a living 
state in Britain. It is figured in Du Ham., i. t.68.; and in Gerard’s Herbal, 
p. 1275. The use of the Cistacez in gardens is for ornamenting rockwork, or 
for keeping in pits during the winter, and planting out in flower-borders 
in spring; as, from the tenderness of the finer species, they are unfit for a. 
permanent place in a shrubbery or arboretum. Most of the larger-growing 
kinds require some protection during winter ; but they will all grow freely in 
any soil that is dry; and they are readily propagated by seeds, which, in fine 
seasons, they produce in abundance, or by cuttings; the plants, in both cases, 
flowering the second year. In the London nurseries the plants are generally 
kept in pots; and the price of the commoner sorts is from Ls. 6d. to 2s. 6d. a 
plant; at Bollwyller, where they are mostly green-house plants, it is 1 franc 
50 cents ; and in New York, ?. 
The hardy ligneous species are included in three genera; which are thus 
contradistinguished by De Candolle and G. Don : — 
Crstus. Calyx of 5 sepals, 2 outer ones unequal or absent. Capsule 
covered by the calyx, 10—5-celled, from having a dissepiment in the middle 
of each valve. 
Hevia‘NtHEemMum. Calyx of 3 equal sepals, or of 5 unequal sepals. Capsule 
triquetrous, l-celled, 3-valved, with a narrow dissepiment, or a placen- 
tarious nerve in the middle of each valve. 
Hupso'nz4. Calyx of 5 equal sepals. Capsule 1-celled, 3-valved, 1—3-seeded. 
Genus I. 
LICL] 
CYSTUS L. Tue Cistus, or Rock Rose. Lin. Syst. Polyandria 
Monogynia. 
Derivation. From the Greek word kis¢é, a box or capsule, or the Anglo-Saxon, cist, a hollow 
vessel ; on account of the shape of its capsules. In Martyn’s Miller, the name is said to be derived 
from that of the youth Cistus, whose story is to be found in Cassianus Bassus. Others derive it 
from ‘is, a worm or weevil. 
Identification. 'Tourn., Lin., Dec., G. Don. 
Synonymes. Holly Rose Gerard ; Gum Cistus ; Ciste, Fr. ; Cisten Rose, Ger. 
Gen. Char, Calyx of 5 sepals; sepals disposed in a double series; 2 outer 
ones unequal, sometimes wanting. Petals 5, equal, somewhat cuneated, 
caducous. Stamens numerous, usually exserted from the glandular disk. 
Style filiform. Stigma capitate. Capsule covered by the calyx, 5- or 
10-valved, with a seminiferous partition in the middle of each valve, 
therefore 5- or 10-celled. Seeds ovate, angular. Eméryo filiform, spiral_— 
Elegant, erect shrubs or subshrubs, with opposite, exstipulate, entire or 
somewhat toothed leaves, and axillary, 1- or many-flowered peduncles. 
Flowers large, beautiful, resembling a single rose, red or white. (Don’s 
Mill., i, p. 298.) 
