POLYANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Cistus. 661 
difference in the foliage from C. Helianthemum. I once noticed the 
latter with dotted leaves similar to those ascribed to C. Surreianus, but the 
plant was evidently diseased.’* What remains then to constitute C. Sur- 
reianus a distinct species ? 
Mr. Christy further remarks, after attentive cultivation, that the lanceolate 
petals gradually assume the common appearance of those of C. Helianthe - 
mum, becoming also more or less irregularly cleft; and considers the 
present ^variety, in its extreme form, as defective in the parts of 
fructification, the stamens and pistils being in some flowers almost 
imperceptible, the stamens producing no pollen ; the plant being incapa¬ 
ble of propagating itself by seed, and consequently very local and rare. 
It further appears that the flowers which had declined to the common 
appearance of C. Helianthemum did perfect their seed, so that from some 
hundreds of flowers about six capsules of ripe seed were obtained. The 
above opinion is confirmed by the singular fact, (also communicated by 
Mr. Christy), that among some seedlings of C. Helianthemum, on their 
flowering, one appeared different to the rest, and exactly C. Surreianus , 
or with petals even narrower than in the Surry plant. 
C. Surreianus. Linn. With, to Ed. 7. Sm. Willd. Galp. C. Helianthemum 
8. Huds. Near Croydon, Surry. Du Bois, in R. Syrt. Among grasses, 
&c. on the border of Croomhurst wood. Addington, Surry. W. Christy, 
Esq. June, 1826. E.) 
(A plant more nearly resembling C. Helianthemum than any other species, 
but tc larger, with broader leaves,” is represented in E. Bot. 2208, and 
said to be the real C. tomentosus of Scopoli. Smith observes that the 
leaves, flower-stalks, and calyx are much more hoary and downy than 
in C. Helianthemum, but that cultivation impairs this ; and admits 
that a decisive specific character is still wanting. This plant was 
communicated by Mr. G. Don from Scotland, where it was also gathered 
by Mr. Dickson. E.) 
C. polifo'lius. Trailing: leaves oblong-egg-shaped, revolute at the 
edges, hoary beneath : calyx even : petals serrated. 
(E. Bot 1322. E.)— Dill. Elth. 146. 172 —Pluk. 23. 6. 
(In size and habit like C. Helianthemum , but essentially distinct, though 
not known in any other part of the world than the place here specified. 
Sm. E.) Flowers white. Stems numerous. Flowering branches as¬ 
cending, cottony, white. Leaves opposite, revolute at the edge, with a 
prominent mid-rib underneath, cottony, white. Bunches terminal. Fruit- 
stalks short. Leaf-scales spear-shaped. Calyx purplish, slightly hairy ; 
the two outer leaves spear-shaped, minute. Woodw. (The stellate form 
of the pubescence is not a peculiar characteristic, as the same prevails 
occasionally, according to Hooker, in C. Helianthemum. E.) 
White Mountain Cistus. Brent downs, Somersetshire, near the Severn 
Sea. (Also found by the Rev. Aaron Neck at Babbicombe, Devon. 
E. Bot. Plentiful on the rocks above Torquay. Rev. Dr. Beeke. Bot. 
Guide. E.) P. July.* 
* (The British species of Cistus, or, as these plants are sometimes called, Rock-rose, are 
all of them more or Jess to be admired for their colour and form ; nor are they entirely 
destitute of that gummy exudation which emits an agreeable balsamic fragrance, and which 
in hotter climates, as Greece and the South of Europe, produces the valuable gum Ladanum , 
lormerly collected from the beards of goats which browsed upon C. Creticus, and even now 
