English: Rock-rose family.
Content: monoterpenes; sesquiterpenes.
DD: sulphur, boron.
Genera: Cistus, Fumana, Halimium, Helianthemum, Tuberaria; Crocanthemum, Hudsonia, Lechea.
Botany: 8 genera, 170-200 species; beautiful shrubs; temperate Europe, North America; dry, sunny habitats; poor soils; flowers showy, yellow, pink or white, short-lived, bisexual, regular, solitary or borne in cymes; five sepals, the inner three of which are distinctly wider, the outer two narrow, like bracteoles; stamens numerous, variable length; filaments are free; ovary superior, 3 carpels; placentation parietal with two or more ovules on each placenta; fruit a capsule, usually with five or ten valves; seeds small, with hard water-impermeable coating; mycorrhizal ability; fast renewal after wildfire.
Use: ornamentals; truffle production.
Culture: symbol of imminent death.
TaxonomyCistaceae is placed in the Order
Malvales in the
Apg3 classification. They were formerly placed in the
Violales.
In the
Plant theory Cistales is split off from
Malvales and placed in
Phase 5.
Cistaceae is placed in
Subphase 3 in the
Cistales.