252 THE ASSOCIATIONS OF FLOWERS 
is a difference in th© length of time during which the^ 
are beautiful; and some which are destined for a few 
hours only of sunshine, have been classed as “ Ephemeral 
flowers/’ Among these are the plants of the cistus genus. 
Single flowers generally fade earlier than double ones; 
and this is the reason why a field nosegay perishes so much 
sooner than the bouquet of cultivated flowers — wild plants 
having usually single blossoms, and the full double flowers 
of our gardens having been rendered thus, in most cases, 
by the art of the cultivator. 
No one who has remarked the flowers of the gum cistus 
can have failed to observe their ephemeral nature. The 
very shrub which in the sunny morning bears such a quan- 
tity of elegant and fragrant blossoms, is by noontime left 
destitute of all but its leaves, and the small white buds 
which promise a gleam of beauty on a coming day; while 
the fair large petals, showered over the small plant which 
grows beneath the shelter of its branches, makes the latter 
look like a little snow mound, or, strewn by the breezes 
more loosely upon the garden pathway, deck it as with 
numerous flowers. 
“ Yet, sooth, those little starry specks. 
That not in vain aspired 
To be confounded with live growths. 
Most dainty, most admired. 
Were only blossoms dropped from twigs, 
Of their own offspring tired.” 
Notwithstanding the fugacious nature of its flowers, this 
shrub is, upon the whole, entitled to be regarded as a 
more permanent ornament to the garden, for after the 
falling of one day’s blossoms, its abundant buds await 
only the dawn of another morning to expand; and thus 
they maintain a constant succession of beauty during the 
months of June and July. This shrub was introduced 
hither from Spain, where it grows wild in abundance ; and 
it is found generally in the countries and islands of south- 
ern Europe. 
From the gum cistus, as well as from two other kinds 
— Cistus ledon and Cistus creticus — ^is derived the gum 
ladanum, or labdanum, which in Greece and some other 
