Species
+

Cistus ladanifer L.

Common gum cistus, Gum Rock-rose, labdanum, laudanum

Climate known 53 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Cistus ladanifer is a species of flowering plant in the family Cistaceae. It is native to the western Mediterranean region. Common names include gum rockrose, labdanum, common gum cistus, and brown-eyed rockrose.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cistus ladanifer”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Cistus

Cistus is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 34 species and a similar number of natural hybrids. They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean region, from Morocco, Spain, Italy, Greece, through to the Middle East, and also on the Canary Islands.

Text from Wikipedia, “Cistus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Cistaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
France, Portugal, Spain +2
Wild records
733 in range· 88 open

At a glance

Warmest month
30°C
Jul, mean day; nights 17 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
676mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Dec 117 mm (CHELSA)
Light
13–50DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February and April in the northern hemisphere (October to February and April at the habitat, northern). Habitat rain 676 mm a year, wettest December at 117 mm, driest July at 5 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 50 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -1.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Cistus ladanifer subsp. subcatus (Dunal) P.Monts.; Cistus ladanifer var. genuinus Daveau; Cistus ladaniferus L.; Cistus ladaniferus f. immaculatus Dans.; Cistus longifolius Steud.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a winter growing season, October to February and April in the northern hemisphere (October to February and April at the habitat, northern).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a winter growing season: 70% of the year's rain (511 mm of 676 mm) falls in October to February and April, cooler than the year (wet-season mean 12.0 °C against a yearly mean of 15.9 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to August and October.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 676 mm a year, wettest December at 117 mm, driest July at 5 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

676 mm a year at the habitat, 511 mm of it October to February and April. Wettest month December at 117 mm, driest July at 5 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 519 mm to 938 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 50 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 13 to 50 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 11, the highest 90th-percentile month 51).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -1.5 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -1.5 °C, the absolute minimum -5.2 °C, about 11 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 4.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 0.3 °C to 9.0 °C), warmest day 30.0 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -1.5 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 51 to 63% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 13 °C in Jan to 30 °C in Jul; mean night from 5 °C in Jan to 18 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 676 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 439 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -5.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-10°10°20°30°40°frost38.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)-5.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 13–50RH 51–63 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 439 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C13 / 8–1514 / 10–1617 / 14–1918 / 15–2021 / 18–2427 / 23–2930 / 25–3330 / 25–3226 / 23–2921 / 18–2317 / 12–1813 / 9–16
Night °C5 / 0–96 / 1–107 / 3–119 / 5–1212 / 8–1415 / 12–1717 / 15–2018 / 15–2016 / 13–1813 / 8–169 / 4–136 / 2–11
Rain mm78 / 50–10863 / 43–9150 / 35–7067 / 54–9150 / 33–7920 / 10–405 / 2–167 / 4–2033 / 27–5285 / 66–122101 / 69–130117 / 74–159
DLI15 / 13–1721 / 19–2330 / 28–3237 / 34–3942 / 40–4548 / 46–5050 / 47–5144 / 42–4534 / 32–3623 / 21–2516 / 14–1813 / 11–14
RH %62 / 60–6461 / 58–6257 / 55–6057 / 54–6156 / 52–6153 / 48–6151 / 44–6052 / 45–6054 / 49–6159 / 56–6261 / 59–6463 / 61–65

Each figure is the median across the 439 grid cells holding the 713 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1007:3437 (39.625, -8.125). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -5.2 °C, 1st-percentile night -1.5 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 439 distinct grid cells holding the 713 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1007:3437 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 39.50_-8.125, lapse-corrected +38 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 269 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrance, Portugal, Spain, Algeria, Morocco· introduced: Canary Is., Madeira, Cyprus, New Zealand South, California
Kew's description“shrub” · “subtropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker37.666, -7.833 · in the densest population, 376 records (51% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 733 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 88 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 26 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 20 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 733 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Cistus ladaniferCistus ladaniferCistus ladaniferCistus ladaniferCistus ladaniferCistus ladaniferCistus ladaniferCistus ladanifer

Photographs: (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) (7); (c) Duarte Frade, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist and Wikimedia Commons did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Cistus ladanifer, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Response surface optimization of enzymatic hydrolysis of Cistus ladanifer and Cytisus striatus for bioethanol production
Susana Ferreira, Ana Paula Duarte, Maria H.L. Ribeiro, João A. Queiroz (2009) · Biochemical Engineering Journal
Multiple Recruitment Limitation Causes Arrested Succession in Mediterranean Cork Oak Systems
Vanda Acácio, Milena Holmgren, Patrick A. Jansen, Ondrej Schrotter (2007) · Ecosystems
Antimony distribution and mobility in topsoils and plants (Cytisus striatus, Cistus ladanifer and Dittrichia viscosa) from polluted Sb-mining areas in Extremadura (Spain)
Ascensión Murciego Murciego, A. García Sánchez, M. A. Rodriguez, Eduardo Pinilla-Gil (2006) · Environmental Pollution
Prediction of fire occurrence from live fuel moisture content measurements in a Mediterranean ecosystem
Emilio Chuvieco, Isabel González, Felipe Verdú, Inmaculada Aguado (2009) · International Journal of Wildland Fire
Synergy of extreme drought and shrub invasion reduce ecosystem functioning and resilience in water-limited climates
Maria C. Caldeira, Xavier Lecomte, Teresa S. David, Joaquim G. Pinto (2015) · Scientific Reports
Handbook of seed science and technology
Basra, Amarjit S. 1958- (2006) · Choice Reviews Online
Role of Ecological Variables in the Seasonal Variation of Flavonoid Content of Cistus ladanifer Exudate
Natividad Chaves, José Carlos Escudero, Carlos Gutiérrez‐Merino (1997) · Journal of Chemical Ecology
Effect of dietary grape seed extract and Cistus ladanifer L. in combination with vegetable oil supplementation on lamb meat quality
Eliana Jerónimo, Cristina M. Alfaia, Susana P. Alves, M.T. Dentinho (2012) · Meat Science
Antifungal activity and detailed chemical characterization of Cistus ladanifer phenolic extracts
Lillian Barros, Montserrat Dueñas, Carlos Alves, Sónia Silva (2012) · Industrial Crops and Products
Plant Growth Inhibiting Flavonoids in Exudate of Cistus ladanifer and in Associated Soils
Natividad Chaves, T. Sosa, José Carlos Escudero (2001) · Journal of Chemical Ecology
Reproductive biology ofCistus ladanifer (Cistaceae)
Salvador Talavera, P. E. Gibbs, Javier Herrera (1993) · Plant Systematics and Evolution

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Cistus 3 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 5 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.