Cistus salvifolius ~ White Rock-Rose.

What an amazing sunny day. I felt slightly poleaxed by the clarity of the sun as I put up my bean poles.

The white rock rose (the sage-leafed one) threw out its first bloom today with ruby tinged petals. Rain coming tomorrow so I put in two types of Dwarf French Beans and Climbing ones and some runner beans, carrots, beetroot and Palla Rossa chicory for the autumn.

Thubron (Journey into Cyprus) claims that the rock rose (Cistus creticus) was a source of myrrh and quotes Herodotus who wrote that the sweet smelling gum was combed out of the beards of goats that had been browsing the bushes. Others say that an aromatic and medicinal resin, 'labdanum' was extracted from it. (Sfikas, 1994 Wild Flowers of Cyprus p.122.) 
 
Labdanum was used in Ancient Egypt to hold together the false goat hair beards worn by the pharaohs. The resin was also used to treat colds, coughs, menstrual problems and rheumatism. It was collected by shepherds in Crete with a kind of leather-tongued rake that they swished over the sticky leaves of the plants (See Labdanum)( from my website here).