CISTACEAE Juss.
Family composed of 9 genera and some 200 species of herbaceous plants and shrubs, distributed mainly through the Mediterranean region, but with some representatives in the rest of the northern Hemisphere and southern America. In North Africa there are 5 genera, of which only 2 have shrubby species: Cistus and Halimium. However, some species of the genera Helianthemun and Fumana can also have woody stems and sometimes exceed 1 m in height.
Key to genera
1 Flowers white or pink. Fruit capsule with 5-10 valves Cistus
2 Plants arundinaceous, with few leaves (only on young stems) ephemeral. Flowers usually yellow, solitary, large (2.5-3.5 cm) Fumana
3 Leaves usually without stipules; 3 or 5 sepals Halimium
3 Leaves always with stipules. Sepals 5, 2 outer sepals much smaller than 3 inner ones Helianthemum
Updated by: F. Alcaraz.