Cistus laurifolius

9x9 cm

€6,00

Cistus laurifolius

€6,00

Organic

Sustainable

Locally grown

🪴Standard: 9x9 cm pot

🚂 Ships across EU

🌱 Grown without pesticides or UV lamps

Frost Tolerant
Drought and Sun Loving
Soft to the Touch
Year Round Garden Interest

Flower Color: White

Sunlight: Full sun

Growth Habit: Bushy, Upright

Saison de plantation: March to May|September to November

Origine: Iberian Peninsula, France, Corsica (introduced), Italy, Greece, Morocco, Turkey.

Cistus laurifolius is a vigorous shrub with wonderfully large, dark green leaves and ivory white flowers.

Very drought-tolerant, this rockrose is hardy down to about -10 to -12 °C, provided it is planted in well-drained soil and full sun.

The leaves are large, somewhat matte-green. Very dark and very dramatic. The young shoots are very sticky and aromatic.

The large white flowers are preceded by elongated bright red buds, highly ornamental, which appear several weeks before flowering. The flowering of this variety comes a bit later than the others - Cistus monspeliensis for instance - so it can be used to continue the Cistus season into the summer.

The root system is both deep and branched. It is so powerful that it can penetrate fractured rocks to extract even the slightest trace of moisture deep underground - making it one of the most drought tolerant plants of the Mediterranean region.

Highly fragrant, the blooms attract butterflies.

Though each flower lasts only a day, their abundance and continuous renewal create a spectacular floral display for several weeks.

✂️ Cistus can be lightly pruned after flowering and pinched back to promote a bushy growth, but avoid cutting into old wood.
🪰 Their thick leaves + resin do not attract pests, though their delicate flowers can be damaged by heavy rain
🏠 Avoid transplanting them once they are settled, as their roots do not like to be disturbed.

A 2011 molecular phylogenetic study placedC. albidus as the sister to Cistus creticus in the purple and pink flowered clade (PPC) ofCistus species.

C. creticus is found largely in the eastern Mediterranean, and the distributions of the two species show little overlap. They are however able to hybridize, producing the fertile hybridC. × canescens - which I am still searching for!

Floral Morphology

Members of the Cistaceae, including the genus Cistus, typically produce solitary or cymose inflorescences with showy, crêpe-like petals.

Flowers are actinomorphic (characterized by radial symmetry), pentamerous, and range from 2 to 8 cm in diameter depending on species. Petals are usually white, pink, or purple with conspicuous yellow stamens. Sepals (3–5) are persistent and may be hairy or glabrous.

Leaves are opposite, simple, entire, and often covered with glandular trichomes secreting aromatic resins such as labdanum. This resin imparts drought resistance and fragrance.

Reproductive Biology

Flowers are hermaphroditic, often protandrous (anthers mature before stigmas), which encourages cross-pollination. Despite this, many species retain a level of self-compatibility, ensuring reproduction under low-pollinator conditions.

Pollination is predominantly entomophilous, with bees, beetles, and flies visiting for pollen rather than nectar.

Seeds are borne in dehiscent capsules containing numerous small seeds adapted for germination after disturbance (particularly fire).

Ecology & Adaptations

Cistaceae are emblematic of Mediterranean-type ecosystems on poor, rocky soils. Key adaptations include:

High Drought tolerance via resinous, sclerophyllous (a sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat) leaves.
Fire-related regeneration, with seeds requiring heat shock or smoke compounds to germinate.
Symbiosis with mycorrhizal fungi (notably Tuber spp.), which enhance nutrient uptake in low-fertility soils.

Learn more about Gardening with the Cistus family:

ENG: Gardening with Cists
FR: Jardiner avec les Cists (Rustica)

This hybrid resulted from the cross between Cistus albidus (a variety that is highly tolerant of calcareous soils) and Cistus crispus (a low-growing species).

The genus Cistus was named by French botanist Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, derived from the Greek Kistos, which was later Latinized as Cisthos by Pliny the Elder. The genus includes around twenty Mediterranean shrub species in the Cistaceae family, closely related to Halimium and Helianthemum.

These plants have opposite, evergreen to semi-evergreen leaves that are oval to lanceolate, sometimes elongated. Some species, like Cistus ladanifer, contain aromatic resin used to produce medicinal labdanum.

Labdanum is a sticky brown resin extracted from the Cistus plants that is still used to produce perfume and vermouth. You'll see when you touch the plant, it's quite sticky.

🔥 Their fruits are fire-resistant capsules, allowing them to reseed naturally after a wildfire.

🥷 They also suppress weed growth through allelopathy (releasing substances that inhibit weed germination) something that our friends in the Thyme family are infamous for.