Van Hevelingen Herb Nursery

Cistus ×dansereaui 'Decumbens'

Common name(s): rockrose

Description: evergreen shrub; a low, spreading form of C. × dansereaui that has been in cultivation since before 1835. Aromatic foliage and large white flowers (8 cm.) with maroon blotches in summer. Parentage: C. ladanifer × C. inflatus.

Height: to 2 ft. Spread: to 4 ft.

Position: full sun and lean, well-draining soil

Uses: ornamental, weed-suppressing groundcover

Winter Hardiness: to 5 F and below

Drought: adapted to 4.5 months of summer drought

Care: tip-pruning after flowering (especially in the first couple of years) will result in a more attractive, compact plant. Cistus generally won't tolerate or regenerate from hard pruning of older, woody growth.

Notes: though, typically thought to be infertile, Cistus ×dansereaui 'Decumbens' produced seed in Eric Sammon's garden in 1959. The most vigorous seedling was named 'Ann Baker' and is now thought to have been a cross with C. laurifolius. The rest of the seedlings were a backcross with C. inflatus, some of which retained the blotched petals of 'Decumbens' (C. ladanifer × C. inflatus). Sammons continued to repeatedly backcross these with C. inflatus to produce a blotched petal equivalent of C. inflatus. After an unknown number of generations and backcrosses, this ultimately resulted in C. 'Little Gem' and later C. 'Ruby Cluster', both of which show little, if any of their C. ladanifer heritage aside from the blotched petals; both are parents to many popular hybrids in cultivation.

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