eee IESE ean 
Stained or purple-spotted centres. 
CISTERN. 
fully known to many a farmer. See the article 
THISTLE (PLUME.) 
CISTERN. A _ small artificial reservoir of 
water. It is practically the same as a tank, and 
differs only in mode of construction, or even in 
mere name. 
CISSUS. A large genus of tropical, climbing 
plants, of the vine tribe. About eighty species 
have been scientifically described; and upwards 
of one-third of these have been introduced to our 
hothouses. Almost all the species are nearly 
identical with the vine in botanical characters, 
and very closely akin to it in habit; but only a 
few of them have a good appearance, and scarcely 
any are of considerable utility. The small leaves 
and quadrangular stems of Cissus quadrangularis 
—which grows to a height of about 30 feet, and 
was introduced to Britain in 1790—are sometimes 
eaten by the natives of India, and, when dried 
and powdered, are prescribed by the Tamul phy- 
siclans in some diseases of the stomach and 
bowels. 
CISTUS. A genus of beautifully-flowering, 
evergreen shrubs, forming the type of the order 
Cistaceze or Cistineze. This order comprises four 
genera, and has, within the gardens of Britain, 
nearly 200 species. Almost all the species are 
remarkable for the beauty of their flowers ; and 
the greater number are admirably adapted for 
rock-work. They are distinguished from other 
calycose plants, always by their alternate or op- 
posite undivided leaves, and generally by their 
exuding a fragrant resinous secretion, and by 
their having regular flowers with crumpled 
petals. 
About forty species of the cistus genus, besides 
some varieties, have been introduced to Britain; 
and all, for the sake of their handsome, fragrant, 
evergreen foliage, and especially of their elegant 
flowers, are worthy of general and zealous culti- 
vation. Two were brought from the Atlantic 
islands of Africa, and all the others from coun- 
tries bordering on the Mediterranean. All are 
usually called hardy ; but some require the pro- 
tection of mattings, or cold frames,—or, though 
resisting the bad effects of ordinary winters, are 
liable to be destroyed by either a severe or a 
prolonged frost. All thrive best upon rocky 
soil, or in a mixture of sand and peat, or of sand 
and loam; and can be propagated either from 
seeds, by layers, or by cuttings,—the last taken 
off in June or July, and planted under a hand- 
glass. Nearly one-half of the species have rose- 
red or purple flowers, and most of the remainder 
have white flowers, with beautifully purple- 
The flowers 
of some are as large as a medium-sized rose; and 
those of most are strictly ephemeral, or continue 
during only part of a day, but appear in constant 
and profuse succession during the months of 
June and July. Some of the species frequently, 
and all of the species occasionally, bear the popu- 
lar name of rock-rose; and three or four of the 
CISTUS. 809 
most gummiferous, fragrant, and beautifully- 
flowered, particularly C. ladaniferus, C. Ledon, 
C. undulatus, and C. cyprius, are popularly called 
Gum-Cistuses. The gum ladanum of commerce 
is produced by C. ladaniferus and C. Ledon, but 
still more copiously by (. ereticus; and in Can- 
dia, it is scraped from the leaves and stems, by 
means of a kind of leather-toothed or leather- 
thonged rake, called ergatiri. In the time of 
Dioscorides, goats were set to browse upon the 
foliage; and when they had collected the gum 
upon their beards, their owners removed it thence 
by combing. We shall briefly notice four or five 
of the most conspicuous or best known species, 
as specimens of the whole. 
The ladanum-bearing species, C. ladaniferus, 
was introduced to Britain from Spain in the 
third decad of the 17th century. Its stem is 
woody, and has a height of about four feet ; its 
branches are irregularly produced, yet usually 
form the plant into a well-shaped bush; its 
leaves are lanceolate, odoriferous, smooth, and 
finely green above, and veined and whitish be- 
low; and its flowers are very large, very delicate, 
well formed, and beautifully tinted, and are pro- 
duced in plenty all over the shrub. Many varie- 
ties of this species exist, differing from one an- 
other principally in the colour or tinting of their 
flowers; but most of these are referrible to two 
types, the white-flowered and the spotted, or C. 
l. albiflorus and C.l. maculatus, The waved and 
the Cyprus species have sometimes been con- 
founded with the ladanum - bearing species.— 
The poplar-leaved species, C. populifolius, was 
introduced from Spain about the middle of the 
17th century. Its stem has a height of from 3 
to 6 feet; its branches grow irregularly, and are 
covered with a brown bark; its leaves are cor- 
date, pointed, and smooth; and its flowers are 
white and numerous, and grow at the ends and 
sides of the branches.—The bay-leaved species, 
C. laurtfolius, was introduced from Spain in 1731. 
Its stems attain a height of from 4 to 6 feet; its 
leaves are oval, pointed, deep green above, whitish 
below, and, during part of the year, very clammy; 
and its flowers are white, large, numerous, and 
imposing.—The hoary species, C. incanus, was 
introduced from the south of Europe toward the 
close of the 16th century. Its stem has a height 
of from two to four feet, and ramifies into a bushy 
head; its leaves are sessile, rough, hoary, and of 
different shapes and sizes according to the va- 
riety, or even on the same plant; and its flowers | 
have a purple colour, of greater or less intensity 
according to the variety—The Montpelier spe- 
cies, C. monspeliensis, was introduced from the 
south of Europe in 1656. Its stem has a height 
of from two to four feet ; its branches grow num- 
erously from the lower as well as the upper part 
of the stem, and are hairy, tough, and slender ; 
its leaves are sessile, lanceolate, dark green, 
hairy, longitudinally three - veined, and very 
clammy and fragrant; and its flowers are white 
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