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Cistus laurifolius

Species of flowering plants in the rock rose family Cistaceae From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cistus laurifolius
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Cistus laurifolius, commonly called laurel-leaf cistus,[1] laurel-leaved cistus[2] or laurel-leaved rock rose, is a species of highly branched flowering evergreen shrub native to some areas around the Mediterranean.

Quick Facts Scientific classification, Binomial name ...
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Description

It grows 0.8–2 m (2 ft 7 in – 6 ft 7 in) 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 9 cm (4 in) long, lanceolate, dark green, while the underside is whitish due to trichomes. The flowering occurs in late spring (May–June), later than most rockroses.[3] It bears white flowers with a yellow spot at the base of each petal, of 4.5–5 cm diameter[4] It is widely cultivated in gardens, and has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[5]

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Distribution and habitat

Cistus laurifolius has a disjunct natural distribution throughout the Mediterranean Basin, being found west in Morocco, Iberia (Portugal, Spain), avoiding the wetter climate in the northwest, southern France, Corsica and Tuscany (Italy), and east in Greece and Anatolia.[4]

With the general warming of the atmosphere and the consequent withdrawal of glacial ice, flora surviving from Tertiary times could not re-establish their range in southern Europe;[clarification needed] the new post-glacial climate was drier than that of the Tertiary. The original tropical European flora evolved into the present Mediterranean sclerophyll flora.[6][7][8] The distribution of some surviving species, such as Cistus laurifolius, shifted to wetter areas, such as the mountains.[8] Due to this, C. laurifolius is named in Spanish in its distribution area as "mountain rockrose",[8] although in the moister coastal west and northwest Iberian Peninsula, it is found at sea level.[9][dubious discuss]

Cistus shrubland, including C. laurifolius, resprouts after fire and has seeds that germinate after fires.[10]

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Phylogeny

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

Species-level cladogram of Cistus species.

  Halimium spp.  

     

  Halimium spp.  

PPC  
     

  Cistus crispus  

     
     

  Cistus heterophyllus  

     

  Cistus albidus  

  Cistus creticus  

  WWPC  
  Purple
  Pink
  Clade
  White
  Whitish Pink
  Clade
Species-level cladogram of Cistus species, based on plastid and nuclear DNA sequences.[11][12][13][14]

Subtaxa

References

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