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CISTUS tomentosus.
Downy Cistus.
POLYANDRIA Monogynia.
G en. Char. Cal. of 5 leaves, 2 of which are smaller
than the rest. Petals 5. Caps, superior, angular,
with 3 valves and many seeds.
Spec. Char. Shrubby, procumbent, with pointed sti-
pulas. Leaves elliptic-oblong, white, and downy
with starry pubescence, beneath.
Syn. Cistus tomentosus. Scop. Cam. ed. 2. v. 1. 376.
t. 24.
T h IS Cz'rtehas been communicated several times to us and
to others by Mr. G. Don from Scotland; and Mr. Dickson,
who has likewise gathered it there, favoured us with a specimen
from his garden last July. Every body contends that it is very
different from C. Helianthemum, t. 1321, and indeed it proves
to be Scopoli s tomentosus, of which we have an authentic specimen
from that excellent botanist himself. Without such help
no person could have settled this point, his figure being very
bad, and his definition not so satisfactory as usual. Accordingly,
no writer has taken up this plant of Scopoli, and we
cannot but congratulate ourselves on being able to ascertain it.
Notwithstanding all the above, we are still at a loss for a
decisive specific character, nor does Scopoli indicate any thing
that holds good, even in his own specimen. The leaves, flower-
stalks and calyx are usually much more hoary and downy
than in Helianthemum, but cultivation impairs this. The
dense white clothing of the backs of the leaves consists of
starry pubescence, which is the case in that, though the rest
of its pubescence is simple. The flowers are large and handsome,
with crumpled golden petals. The leaves on the young
axillary shoots are peculiarly round.