246 AUTUMNAL FLOWERS 



variety of these beautiful shrubs to choose from, but a 

 good deal of confusion in their nomenclature, and it 

 requires some trouble to obtain the species true to 

 name; but this matters less because there is not one 

 of the genus that is not worth growing. Perhaps the 

 best of the red-flowered kinds is Cistus crispus, which 

 unfolds innumerable blossoms with crinkled crimson 

 petals and golden centres in long succession throughout 

 the summer months. The gum cistus ((7. ladaniferus) 

 is not easy to obtain true to name, but C. cyprius, 

 which nurserymen usually supply as gum cistus, is 

 equally beautiful, growing six feet high and producing 

 crowds of large white blossoms, with a claret blotch at 

 the base of each petal. The true gum cistus may be 

 known by its flowers being solitary on the stalks, 

 whereas the other carries them in thyrses of four to 

 six. Nevertheless, C. cyprius is as fragrant and gummy 

 as the other, and was probably an ingredient in the 

 incense offered to Aphrodite at Paphos, though Pliny 

 only mentions it as being nobilis in vino delicious in 

 wine and an astringent drug. He describes the im- 

 memorial manner of collecting gum ladanum, by herd- 

 ing goats among the bushes and taking it off their 

 hair, which must have added finely to the bouquet of 

 the wine. Even so, it was probably less detestable 

 than the resinato universally drunk in Greece at this 

 day, wine flavoured with resin of Aleppo pines. In his 

 English Flower Garden, Mr. W. Robinson mentions 

 the white-flowered laurel-leaved cistus (C. laurifolius) 

 as the only species hardy enough to grow in Scotland. 

 He seldom misleads amateurs, but in this instance he 



