Sage-leaved rockrose
Cistus salviifolius
Family · Cistaceae · Harmless
The small, unassuming rockrose, with a wrinkled sage-like leaf and white flowers the size of a coin. It carpets pine woods and is among the first back after fire.
Scrubland · Pine woods · Dunes and sand · Montado
Also known assalvia cistus
How to tell it
An oval, dull green leaf, deeply wrinkled and rough, with nothing sticky about it. White five-petalled flowers with a yellow centre, lasting a single day.
What it is confused with
Gum rockrose
Cistus ladanifer
Touch the leaf: gum rockrose is sticky and smells of resin, sage-leaved rockrose is dry and rough. And gum rockrose is much taller.
What it is for
Little direct use, great ecological value: it holds poor soils and prepares the ground for scrub to return after a burn.
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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