Cistus

This Cistus bloom looks like crushed tissue paper, and here it is set off by a background of sunny leaves, Acrylics on paper – 30.5 x 40.5 cm.

£400.00

This Cistus was in a herbaceous border I visited. I don’t usually care much for garish colours, but the petals of Cistus have such a beautiful look of crushed tissue paper, and the background of leaves and light set the bloom off so wonderfully that I fell in love. The leaves to the left of the painting belong to the cistus itself, and the ones to the right belong to (I think) a variegated Euonymus.

I believe that this particular plant is Cistus creticus (the pink rock-rose). According to Wikipedia notes it is highly variable. This was the second painting I finished in 2021 and was a response to a miserable winter of lockdown. By then I wanted nothing more than bright flowers and sunshine but, since both were still in short supply, I had to create them with paint.

Cistus and fungi

Cistus species have developed mycorrhizal relationships with a number of fungi. This symbiotic relationship enables them to live in poor soil and survive drought.

Cistus the firestarter

Dry sunny Mediterranean conditions are often prone to fire. Sometimes such wildfires are not the fault of idiot humans, but rather an extraordinary adaptation of some Cistus species that emit volatile and flammable oils. Cistus seeds are resistant to fire, and the germinating seedlings benefit from the lack of competition and the ash-fertilised soil.

Some people think plants are boring, but every plant you encounter has special features that have helped it to survive until now – when humanity threatens every living thing in the world.

If you like this painting you might also like these daylilies or this peony.