52 



CISTUS laurifolius. 



Laurel-leaved Rock-Rose. 



Sect. II. LEDONIA. Supra fol. 1. 



. 2. Pedunculis bracteatis, bracteis caducis decussatis, inferioribus 

 minoribus unifloris, axillaribus solitariis vel terminalibus umbellatis ; 

 calycibus 3-sepalis; capmlis 5-W-locularibus. 

 * Stigmate magno sessilL 



C. laurifolius, foliis petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis trinerviis supra gla- 

 bris subtus tomentosis, petiolis basi dilatatis connatis, capsulis 

 5-locularibus. DC.prodr. 1. p. 266. 



Cistus Jaurifolius. Linn. spec. 736. Willden. sp. pi. 2. p. 1182. Lam. 

 enc. 2. p. 16. Pers. s#w. 2. p. 74. Hor*. tfew. erf. 2. p. 304. 

 f. 1./J.78./1. 



S'/em shrubby, erect, much branched : branches spread- 

 ing, densely clothed with fascicles of short hairs, which 

 press inward to the stem, upper part glutinous. Leaves 

 opposite, petioled, ovate or ovately lanceolate, acute, 

 very much undulate at the margins, three-nerved from 

 the base, upper side smooth, of a dark green, and vis- 

 cous ; underneath clothed with a short dense white to- 

 mentum, which wears off by age, and the leaf is then 

 very much reticulated underneath. Petioles deeply 

 channelled on the upper side, and convex or keeled on 

 the lower, widened at the base, where they are con- 

 nected, and clasp the stem, thickly clothed with tufts 

 of short hairs. Peduncles long, cylindrical, clammy, 

 many-flowered, either panicled, corymbose, whorled or 

 umbellate. Bractes ovate, acuminate, convex, downy, 

 more or less of a red colour, but deciduous, and falling 

 off before the expansion of the flowers. Pedicles cylin- 

 drical, densely clothed with fascicles of unequal hairs, 

 the points of which bend inwards. Calyx of 3 sepals, 

 which are ovate, taper-pointed, convex, or concave 



