Cistus monspeliensis L.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cistus monspeliensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cistus/cistus-monspeliensis/). Accessed 2025-07-11.

Family

  • Cistaceae

Genus

Glossary

inflorescence
Flower-bearing part of a plant; arrangement of flowers on the floral axis.
linear
Strap-shaped.
midrib
midveinCentral and principal vein in a leaf.
ovate
Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
viscid
Sticky.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Cistus monspeliensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/cistus/cistus-monspeliensis/). Accessed 2025-07-11.

An evergreen shrub 2 to 4 ft high, with erect, much-divided branches, hairy and slightly viscid when young. Leaves stalkless, narrowly lance-shaped or linear, 34 to 2 in. long, 18 to 12 in. wide; tapered at both ends, three-nerved, margins incurved; dark green, hairy and much wrinkled above; grey beneath with a close, starry down, as well as hairy on the midrib and nerves. Flowers white, about 1 in. wide, arranged in a compact head borne at the end of a slender, erect, shaggy stalk. All the branches are terminated by an inflorescence, the smaller side ones of three to six flowers, the terminal one of about twice as many. Sepals five, ovate, very hairy.

Native of S. Europe and N. Africa; cultivated here in the middle of the seventeenth century. From other hardy or nearly hardy species this is readily distinguished by its narrower leaves. It is not one of the hardiest sorts, and suffers in moderately severe winters. Where it survives it makes a neat bush, remarkably profuse in blossom.