Rock Roses
Rediscover a fragrant garden friend.
February/March 2002
By Andy Van Hevelingen
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In addition to its brilliant petals, the yellow rock rose (Halimium lasianthum) has a dense, shrubby character.
Andy Van Hevelingen
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Andy Van Hevelingen is a frequent contributor to The Herb
Companion and enjoys writing, photography, and gardening in his
Newberg, Oregon, home.
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Rock roses are magical flowers, born for the
moment. They open early in the morning and seldom last more than a
few hours, dropping their petals like confetti. These handsome
evergreen shrubs hold a host of buds that open daily for weeks, and
their resinous leaves scent the afternoon air with a sweet aroma of
honey and pine.
Ten years ago, a visit to Nichol’s Herb and Rare Plant Nursery
in Albany, Oregon, first introduced me to the surprising and
unusual world of Cistus, the closely related genus Halimium, and
the hybrid, ¥Halimiocistus, collectively known as the rock roses.
In the center of the display garden was a large, dark-green shrub
covered with wonderful white flowers. Each flower had five
crepe-like petals that were yellow at the base and blotched with
burgundy, as if painted by a delicate hand. The petals encircled a
bright yellow center with a profusion of stamens. I was so
enthralled with its beauty that I immediately asked for a cutting.
I was surprised when I touched the plant to take the cutting; it
was so sticky that I felt like a fly caught on flypaper. The
manager laughed as she handed me a napkin and said the plant was a
Spanish gum rock rose (Cistus ladanifer). It is the source of a
resinous gum called labdanum.
Although unknown to me, rock roses were familiar to gardeners
and herbalists of the past. Herbalist John Gerard in 1597,
referring to the texture of the white petals of C. albidus,
described them as “lightly creased like a newly dried sheet before
being ironed.” Many herbals remarked on the methods of harvesting
the gum resins, which were simple yet innovative. One method was to
take a large rope with attached leather strips and rake it back and
forth across the leaves of the cistus to release the resins, which
would adhere to the leather strips where they could be later
scraped off and collected. Another popular method was to graze
goats throughout the cistus fields and have the gum collect on the
goat’s beard, which would then be cut off with a knife specially
curved for that purpose. Once collected, the material was boiled in
water to separate the resin from the beard, producing a dark-brown
solid mass.
In earlier times, the resin was used medicinally for the relief
of catarrh, diarrhea, and dysentery. Today, Spain is the major
commercial producer of the gum, which is used mostly as a fixative
or fragrance in perfumes, soaps, and toiletries. It is used most
effectively with the earthy fragrances of Oriental colognes and
aftershaves. The scent is said to be as close to sweet ambergris
(oil from whales) as the vegetative world can offer.
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