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.
Where it grows
Scrubland · Pine woods · Dunes and sand · Montado
Also known assalvia cistus
In flower
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.
Open sheet →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.