CISTUS laurifolius.
Laurel-leaved Rock-Rose.
Sect. II. Led o n ia . Supra fol. 1.
§. 2. Pedunculis bracteatis, bracteis caducis decussatis, inferioribus
minoribus unifions, axillaribus solitariis vel terminalibus umbellatis ;
calycibus 3-sepalis ; capsulis 5-10-locularibus.
* Stigmate magno sessili.
C. laurifolius, foliis petiolatis ovato-lanceolatis trinerviis supra gla-
bris subtus tomentosis, petiolis basi dilatatis connatis, capsulis
5-locularibus. DC. prodr. 1. p. 266.
Cistus laurifolius. Linn. spec. 736. Willden, sp.pl. 2. p. 1182. Lam.
enc. 2. p. 16. Pers. syn. 2. p. 74. Hort. Kew. ed. 2. p. 304.—Clus.
hist. 1. p. 78. ƒ 1.
Stem shrubby, erect, much branched: branches spreading,
densely clothed with fascicles of short hairs, which
press inward to the stem, upper part glutinous. Leaves
opposite, petioled, ovate or ovately lanceolate, acute,
very much undulate at the margins, three-nerved from
the base, upper side smooth, of a dark green, and viscous
; underneath clothed with a short dense white to-
mentum, which wears off by age, and the leaf is then
very much reticulated underneath. Petioles deeply
channelled on the upper side, and convex or keeled on
the lower, widened at the base, where they are connected,
and clasp the stem, thickly clothed with tufts
of short hairs. Peduncles long, cylindrical, clammy,
many-flowered, either panicled, corymbose, whorled or
umbellate. Bractes ovate, acuminate, convex, downy,
more or less of a red colour, but deciduous, and falling
off before the expansion of the flowers. Pedicles cylindrical,
densely clothed with fascicles of unequal hairs,
the points of which bend inwards. Calyx of 3 sepals,
which are ovate, taper-pointed, convex, or concave