17 



CISTUS purpureus. 



Purple-flowered Rock-Rose. 



Sect. I. ERYTHROCISTUS. Supra, fol. 3. 



** Pedunculis cymosis; stylo subnullo iapitato staminibus breviore. 



C. purpureus, foliis oblongo-lanceolatis acutis obtusisve rugosis 

 reticulato-venosis margine undulatis, pctiolis brevibus piloso- 

 ciliatis vaginantibus, pedunculis brevibus l-2-ternisve aut sub- 

 cjmosis, sepalis acuminatis exterioribus iniuoribus, petalis obo- 

 vato-cuneatis valde imbricatis. 



Cistus purpureus. Lam. diet. 2. p. 14. Pers. syn. 2. p. 75. Ker. 

 Sot. reg. t. 408. DC. prodr. 1. p. 264. Swt. hort. sub. lond. 

 p. 123. Spreng. syst. veg.2. p. 584. 



Stem shrubby, erect, much branched : branches erect 

 or ascending, thickly clothed with a rusty pubescence. 

 Leaves opposite, oblong and obtuse, nearly flat, others 

 oblongly lanceolate, or narrowly lanceolate and acute, 

 with undulate margins, all tapering at the base, more 

 or less rugose, reticulately veined, densely pubescent 

 on the lower side, and more thinly on the upper. Pe- 

 tioles short, connected at the base and sheathing the 

 stem, hairy. Flowers terminal, from 1 to 6 on short 

 peduncles. Bractes sessile, leaf-like, broad and concave 

 at the base, where they are connected, and terminating 

 in an acute point, pubescent. Pedicles short, clothed 

 with tufts of short hairs, and longer ones intermixed. 

 Calyx of 5 sepals, clothed with fascicles of short hairs, 

 fringed and taper-pointed : 2 outer ones smallest and 

 narrowest, cordately ovate ; inner ones cordate, con- 

 cave, with membranaceous margins. Petals 5 or 6, obo- 

 vate or obovately wedge-shaped, very much imbricate, 

 more or less crumpled, of a bright reddish purple, with 

 a yellow spot at the base, above which is a large dark 

 velvet mark, surrounded with red, and slightly branched. 



