132 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



odoriferous drug termed ladanum, so much 

 employed in the east. This ladanum is of old 

 repute, and is thought by many writers, to be 

 the substance called myrrh in Scripture. 



But besides the gum cistus, we have a variety 

 of plants of this genus now in full flower. 

 There are several shrubs covered with blos- 

 soms, while clumps of lovely flowers of the 

 cistus kind, nod to every breath of wind which 

 rufiles the leaf The pretty purple-flow^ered 

 species, {Cistus piirpweus,) is quite a popular 

 shrub from the south of Europe. This flower 

 blooms not only during this and the next 

 jnonth, but, if the autumn be mild, vv'ill bloom 

 again at that period. The lower growing 

 cistuses, of orange, red, yellow, or other colours, 

 are often seen on the bed. The old writers 

 called the larger cistases Bosa alpinaand Rosa 

 montana, while Parkinson terms them holly 

 roses. Several of the herbaceous species are 

 used as ornaments to the rock-work, and have 

 evergreen leaves. The different jjlants of this 

 genus were well known to our old botanists and 

 gai'deners, and Gerarde mentions that, in his 

 day, there were thirty-eight kinds cultivated in 

 England. They are all natives of the southern 

 countries of Europe, where even if the win- 

 ter brings some chilly days, yet the summer 

 season is hot and dry. Their perfume exists 

 rather in their leaves and young buds, than in 

 the flowers. A beautiful gi'eenhouse species, 

 the oblong-leaved cistus, (Cistus vagiiiatus,) 

 often grows five feet high, and has rose-colovu'ed 



