The gum rockrose is a Mediterranean shrub covered in an aromatic, sticky resin, the main feature of the rockrose scrub that covers much of the centre and west of the Iberian Peninsula.
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Division | Magnoliophyta |
| Class | Magnoliopsida |
| Order | Malvales |
| Family | Cistaceae |
| Genus | Cistus |
| Species | Cistus ladanifer |
It is an evergreen shrub between 1 and 3 metres tall, with elongated, dark leaves covered in a sticky, highly aromatic resin, the «labdanum». On hot days, this resin fills the air with an intense balsamic scent.
From late spring to early summer it is covered in large white flowers, many of them with a showy maroon blotch at the base of the petals.
It is native to the western Mediterranean and is especially abundant on the siliceous, acidic soils of the centre and south-west of the Iberian Peninsula, where it forms extensive rockrose scrub after fires or the abandonment of farmland. It is a pioneer plant that is very resistant to drought and heat.
Its resin, labdanum, has been harvested since antiquity for perfumery and incense. It is also a key species in Mediterranean fire ecology: although it is highly flammable, its seeds need the heat of a fire to break dormancy and germinate, which allows it to quickly recolonise burnt ground.
