0217 



WHITE-LEAVED ROCKROSE 



Family: ClSTACEAE. 



Reproductive system: POLYANDRY, MONOGYNY. 



The white-leaved rockrose, Cistus albidus, LINN., is found on the arid hills of 

 Provence and Languedoc. Its large, prettily colored flowers create the finest impression in 

 our parterres. The stem, three or four feet high, bears several branches and forms a leafy 

 bush. The branches are covered with a cottony down. The sessile, oval-oblong leaves are 

 opposite and marked underneath by slightly protruding veins. The large, purple flowers 

 are terminal. The calyx has five hairy divisions rounded at their bases and culminating in 

 points that are bent back at the tips. The corolla has five large obtuse petals of a beautiful 

 purple color. A very large number of stamens insert into the base of the ovary, which is 

 simple and surmounted by a style with a stigma rounded at the top. The fruit is an oval- 

 rounded capsule with five compartments and five valves that open in the middle of each 

 compartment. There are numerous seeds that insert into the edges, without any 

 receptacle. 



FLOWERS: in June and July. 



RANGE: the vicinities of Nice, Narbonne, Montpellier, and several other parts of 

 southern France. 



NOMENCLATURE. Cistus, from the Greek word kistos, the name for these plants. 

 German, das weisslichte cistenrochen. Spanish, estepilla, bullegra. Portuguese, rosalho. 



USES. The flowers stay open only a short time, but for two or three months there 

 are so many of them that one hardly has a chance to notice how briefly they last. They 

 decorate flower beds in the south of France, and add variety to conservatories in the 

 northern provinces. 



