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Cytinaceae FAMILY

Cytinus hypocistis

Cytinus hypocistis

Edibility
3/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitPerennial
Growth—

A parasitic plant, growing on the roots of various Cistus species, especially white-flowered forms. It produces no chlorophyll[1]. The abundance of this species in the field is closely linked to spring rains, so that in dry years it practically does not flower while in rainy years it is abundant and easy to see[2].

Propagation

Seed - Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-21. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Cytinus+hypocistis>

Pollinators

Ants

References

  1. [1]Flowers of the Mediterranean. — Polunin. O. and Huxley. A. · Hogarth Press · 1987 · ISBN 0-7012-0784-1 ↩︎A very readable pocket flora that is well illustrated. Gives some information on plant uses.
  2. [2]Inventario Espanol de los Conocimientos Tradicionales relativos a la Biodiversidad. Segunda Fase — Editors: Manuel Pardo de Santayana et al · Ministerio de Agricultura; Madrid · 2018 · http://publicacionesoficiales.boe.es/ · ISBN 978-84-491-1472-4 ↩︎An excellent guide to the traditional uses of plants in Spain. Produced in three volumes, it is available for download as a PDF from the Internet
  3. [3]Flora Iberica — http://www.floraiberica.es ↩︎Published in book form, the treatments of the various species have also been released on-line in PDF format. Records entered here are all from the on-line PDFs.
  4. [4]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  5. [5]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  6. [6]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  7. [7]Evaluation of the antimalarial and antileishmanial activity of plants from the Greek island of Crete — Fokialakis N.; Kalpoutzakis E.; Tekwani B.L. et al · 2007 ↩︎A survey of 65 species of plants for their anti parasitic activity,