24 



N. Ord. CISTACE^. Lindl., Veg. K., p. 349; Le Maout & Dec 

 p. 238 ; Baill., Hist. PL, iv. 



Genus Cistus,* Linn. B. & H., Gen., i, p. 112; Baill., iv, 

 p. 323. Species 20 or more, natives of S. Europe and the 

 countries round the Mediterranean. 



24. Cistus creticus, Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. 10, p. 1077 (1759). 



Ladano (Crete). 



Syn.C. vulgaris, var., Spach. C. villosus, var., Boiss. 



Figures. Woodville, t. 207?; Nees, t. 432; PI. Grseca, t. 495, cop. in 

 Hayne, xiii, t. 33 ; Jacquin, Ic. Ear., i, t. 95 ; Beichenb., Ic. PL Germ., 

 iii, t. 40 ; Willkomm, Mon. Cistin., t. 83. 



Description. A small bush with numerous spreading opposite 

 terete branches, with a rough grey bark, the younger twigs 

 densely covered with tufts of shortish white hairs. Leaves | 1J 

 ins. long, opposite, readily falling, sessile, obovate-spathulate, 

 acute or obtuse, tapering into the broad attenuated almost 

 sheathing base, entire, bright green, shortly glandular and hairy 

 in tufts on both sides, with prominent reticulate veins beneath, 

 thick, wavy and crisped, the upper ones narrower. Flowers 

 abundantly produced in small cymes at the extremities of the 

 branches, 1^ inches wide, stalked. Sepals 5, leafy, very broadly 

 ovate, suddenly narrowed to an acute apex, strongly veined, hairy 

 like the leaves, and also with long hairs on the back, margins 

 membranous, imbricate in the bud. Petals 5, roundish, imbricate, 

 much crumpled in the bud, delicate, of a deep clear bluish-pink 

 with a yellow base, soon falling. Stamens indefinite, hypogynous, 

 inserted in several rows on the receptacle, with which they are 

 articulated leaving circular scars after their fall, filaments orange 

 coloured; anthers small, darker. Ovary shorter than the 

 stamens, ovoid, densely covered with long white silky hairs, 

 1 -celled (partially 5-celled), with 5 parietal placentas extending 

 nearly or quite to the centre (where they are actually combined 



* Cistus, in Greek KIO-TOQ or KiaQoQ, the classical name. 



