3 



31 



CISTUS albidus. 



White-leaved Rock-Rose. 



Sect. I. ERYTHROCISTUS. Supra, foL 3. 



* Peduuculis unifloris, axillaribus vel terminalibus, solitariis um- 

 bellatisve; stylo cylindrico sapb staminibus longiore; stigmate capi- 

 tato 5-sulcato. DC. prodr. 1. p. 264. 



C. albidus, foliis sessilibus oblougo-ellipticis incano-tomentosis sub- 

 trinerviis, floribus 3-8 terminalibus subumbellatis, sepalis externis 

 majoribns, petalis valde imbricatis. 



Cistus albidus. Linn. spec. 737. Willden. sp.pl. 2. p. 1186. Pers. 

 syn. 2. p. 75. DC. prodr. 1. p. 264. Hort. Kew. ed. 2. v. 3. p. 306. 



Cistus mas. I. Clus. hist. 1. p. 68. ic. Park, theatr. 658. /. 1. 



Stem shrubby, erect, much branched, and thickly 

 crowded with leaves, clothed with a brown scaly bark : 

 branches opposite, erect, thickly clothed with dense 

 wool. Leaves opposite, crossing each other, sessile, con- 

 nate at the base and surrounding the stem, oblongly 

 elliptic or lanceolate, scarcely acute, much undulate, 

 3-nerved at the base, reticulately veined, clothed on both 

 sides with a dense white stellate pubescence. Flowers 

 3 to 8, terminating the branch in a sort of umbellate co- 

 rymbus, of a bright lilac or pale rose colour. Bractes 

 leaf-like, ovate, obtuse. Pedicles cylindrical, erect, 

 stout, densely tomentose. Calyx of 5 acute sepals, the 

 2 outer ones largest, cordate, strongly 5-nerved, margins 

 a little rolled back, densely clothed with a starry to- 

 mentum ; inner ones narrower, taper-pointed, more in- 

 clining to membranaceous, also clothed with a stellate 

 tomentum. Petals 5, broadly obovate, much imbricate, 

 slightly crenulate, more or less crumpled, of a bright 

 lilac or rose-coloured, with a yellow spot at the base. 

 Stamens numerous, from 180 to 200, in a dense tuft ; 

 filaments slender, yellow ; anthers 2-celled, opening at 



