Cistus clusii Dunal subsp. clusii
C. rosmarinifolius Pourr., nom. illeg., C. viridis Willk., C. libanotis sensu auct., non L.
Spa.: Romarina, romero macho, quiebraollas. Fre.: Ciste à feuilles de romarin. Ara.: Dil el maza, khelilel maza. Tam.: Tuzzla, tuzi, mezzat.
Evergreen shrub, hermaphrodite, 0.5-1 m in height, highly ramose, sightly or not at all viscous. It can be easily confused with rosemary when it has no flowers due to its size and leaves. Branches extended-erect, with greyish-brown bark. Branchlets green or reddish, with simple long hairs, and other hairs much smaller and applied. Leaves 1-3 × 0.1-0.4 cm, opposite, sessile, semiclasping, linear, ending in an obtuse tip, with revolute margin; green and glabrescent on the upper side; whitish, with dense tomentum of stellate hairs on the underside; with a single longitudinal vein. Inflorescences in lateral umbelliform cymes, short, 4-5(10) cm long, divided into 2-4 smaller groups each composed of 2-3(5) flowers, with relatively wide flower buds (3-8 mm). Flowers small, 2-3.5 cm in diameter. Pedicels and calyx usually villous, ± hirsute, with whitish hairs. Calyx with 3 ovoid sepals, 4-8 mm long, promptly caducous. Corolla with 5 white petals. Fruits in subspherical capsule, 4-8 mm, with tomentum of stellate hairs, dehiscent in 5 valves. Seeds rounded-tetrahedral, almost smooth or finely granular surface. 2n = 18.
Flowering:
March to June.
Fruiting:
May to August.
Habitat:
Cleared forests and thickets on calcareous, chalky, loamy or sandy soils, alkaline, but also ultra alkaline. In relatively warm areas, from sea level to about 1,300 m altitude. From semiarid to subhumid bioclimate, on thermomediterranean and mesomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Central-western Mediterranean region. In North Africa it is widely distributed from the Atlantic coast to the eastern coast of Tunisia. To the S it reaches the Middle Atlas, the Saharan Atlas and the Jebel Dahar.
Observations:
Another species of the genus, very similar to the previous one, but much rarer, is C. munbyi Pomel (C. sericeus sensu Munby, non Vahl). It is basically differentiated by its sepals, which are longly acuminate, longer than the capsule, as well as by its inflorescences and branchlets which are more villous, silky, whitish-silvery in appearance. It is endemic to North Africa along the littoral and sublittoral mountains of NE Morocco and NW Algeria (from the mountains of Beni-Snassen to near Algiers).
Conservation status:
C. clusii is a common and even locally abundant species. C. munbyi is much rarer but does not seem threatened. Currently, they have not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.