Nomenclature

Species name:

Cistus creticus   L.

Author(s):

Carl von Linné
   Sweden, 1707-1778

Common name:

Hoary Rock Rose
Crete Rockrose
Rockrose

Maltese name:

Cistu Roza

Plant Family:

Cistaceae   (Rock Rose Family)

Name Derivation:

Cistus = An old greek name for the Rockrose derived from kistos which means an evergreen shrub (Greek);

creticus = of or from the Mediterranean island of Crete (Latin).

Synonyms:

Cistus incanus ssp. creticus (main synonym), C. florentinus, C. garganicus, C. undulatus

Plant Description

Life Cycle:

Perennial

Habitat:

Maquis and garigue.

Sources in Malta:

Uncommon; examples include Selmun and Bahrija

Plant Height:

30-100cm

Flowering Time:

Feb-May

An evergreen, multi-branching plant forming a shrub reaching up to 1 metre in size. Often seen in populations in garigue or maquis. Stems are woody and not spiny.

The leaves are rather thick, with a harsh texture due to their numerous coarse hairs that under magnification they are stellate (star-shaped). The stalked, lance-shaped leaves have a pinnate venation that on the upper face the veins are impressed down. The size of the leaves varies from 20-50mm long and 8-30mm wide and have a greyish-green colour.

The flowers are variable in size and colour. The diameter of the 5 petalled flowers can vary between 35mm to 55mm while the colour can be bright purple (magenta) or a paler pink-lilac colour. The flower is composed of 5 oval to lance shaped free sepals with a distinct abruptly narrowing apex forming a long pointed tip. These pointed parts twirl slightly around the bud forming a calyx with a beautiful structure. The sepals are also covered by stellate hairs.

The corolla is composed of 5 free, large, broad oval to circular petals that overlap marginally at their lower half. A distinctive feature of the purple to pink petals is the prominently wrinkled texture that they have. The reproductive organs consists of a central tuft of numerous (maybe a hundred) divergent, golden yellow stamens each with a thin, erect filament. The thick style is located at the centre amongst the stamen-tuft and usually it is slightly longer. The stigma is also golden yellow and well swollen - measuring about 3mm across.

The fruit is a loculicidal dehiscent capsule that splits open longitudinally into 5 parts and release the numerous teeth-like seeds about 1mm in size. Seeds are light brown. There is no evident mechanical seed dispersal mechanism.

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