''Cistus laurifolius'', commonly called laurel-leaf cistus, laurel-leaved cistus or laurel-leaved rock rose, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

of highly branched flowering

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to some areas around the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

Description

It grows high. The branches are strong and erect, with reddish bark that is easily removed in strips. The leaves are larger than in the other species of ''Cistus'', up to long,

lanceolate The following terms are used to describe leaf plant morphology, morphology in the description and taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (that is, the leaf blade or 'lamina' is undivided) or compound (that is, the leaf blade ...

, dark green, while the underside is whitish due to

trichome Trichomes (; ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant ...

s. The flowering occurs in late spring (May–June), later than most rockroses. It bears white flowers with a yellow spot at the base of each petal, of 4.5–5 cm diameter It is widely cultivated in gardens, and has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

Distribution and habitat

''Cistus laurifolius'' has a disjunct natural distribution throughout the Mediterranean Basin, being found west in Morocco,

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

(Portugal, Spain), avoiding the wetter climate in the northwest, southern France, Corsica and Tuscany (Italy), and east in Greece and

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. With the general warming of the atmosphere and the consequent withdrawal of glacial ice, flora surviving from

Tertiary Tertiary (from Latin, meaning 'third' or 'of the third degree/order..') may refer to: * Tertiary period, an obsolete geologic period spanning from 66 to 2.6 million years ago * Tertiary (chemistry), a term describing bonding patterns in organic ch ...

times could not re-establish their range in southern Europe; the new post-glacial climate was drier than that of the Tertiary. The original tropical European flora evolved into the present Mediterranean

sclerophyll Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short Internode (botany), internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or ...

flora. The distribution of some surviving species, such as ''Cistus laurifolius'', shifted to wetter areas, such as the mountains. Due to this, ''C. laurifolius'' is named in Spanish in its distribution area as "mountain rockrose", although in the moister coastal west and northwest Iberian Peninsula, it is found at sea level. ''Cistus'' shrubland, including ''C. laurifolius'', resprouts after fire and has seeds that germinate after fires.

Phylogeny

''Cistus laurifolius'' belongs to the white and whitish pink flowered clade of ''Cistus'' species.

Gallery

Subtaxa

*''Cistus laurifolius'' var. ''atlanticus'' Pit. *''Cistus laurifolius'' var. ''lanceolatus'' Rouy & Foucaud *''Cistus laurifolius'' var. ''laurifolius'' *''Cistus laurifolius'' var. ''ovatus'' Rouy & Foucaud

References

laurifolius {{Malvales-stub