Poplar-leaved rockrose
Cistus populifolius
Family · Cistaceae · Harmless
The broad heart-leaved rockrose, out of step with all the others in the genus and looking more like a small poplar. It lives in cooler scrub and oak-wood edges, not in dry places.
Scrubland · Oak woods · Uplands
Also known aspoplar-leaf cistus
How to tell it
Large heart-shaped leaves with an obvious stalk and marked veins, bright green. No other Iberian rockrose has such a leaf. Large white flowers with a yellow centre, and red buds before opening.
What it is confused with
Gum rockrose
Cistus ladanifer
The leaf settles it: narrow and sticky on gum rockrose, broad and heart-shaped and dry here.
What it is for
No relevant use
It indicates cooler, deeper soils than the rest of the genus, and its presence in scrub says there was woodland there.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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