Cistus
Family: Cistaceae
English: Cistus
Large, hairy and perennial shrub with small, ovate and recurved leaves. The flowers are purple-pink, sometimes white, the fruit bearing numerous seeds. It self-grows in heath and clusters on mountainous, semi-mountainous and coastal areas.
Four species occur in Greece, the first being endemic to Crete: Cistus creticus, C. ladanifer, C. parviflorous, C. salvifolia. In mid-summer travelers on Crete heading for the village of Sissi, province of Agios Nikolaos, may encounter a unique vista: scores of villagers lashing hard upon small bushes bearing splendid, rose-purple flowers. This is a popular way to extract the much sought after resin of Cistus creticus whose flowers adorn both the coastal and mountainous regions of the island.
This strenuous task is translated to €55,00 per kilo of resin, albeit one villager alone hardly ever attains this quantity. This process of extraction demands hard labour, sometimes under scorching temperatures ranging from 38-40°C.
When the flowers are at bloom, they exude a sticky gum known as ladanum or labdanum. This substance was valued in popular Cretan medicine and used in compresses for rheumatism, also in decoctions against bronchitis and diarrhea (mixed the oregano. In Cyprus the petals are boiled to make tea that is good for colitis. Shepherds used "aladanum" compresses to cure the wounds of domesticated animals.
The ancient Greeks burnt the gum as incense and used it raw for curative ointments. Dioscurides provides a detailed description of ladanum collection: "The gum exuded by the plant sticks to the beards and feet of goats wherefrom it is collected by people and given its final form. Ladanum can be used as a steptic and emollient substance.
Herodotus makes numerous references to ladanum, particularly as regards its use as incense in the Arab world.
During the Middle Ages a Cistus species with white flowers grew in abundance on Crete and Cyprus. Both islands exported large quantities of ladanum to the Arab countries where this aromatic gum was used as medicine and incense mixed with sandalwood.
In popular applications ladanum was considered a potent antiseptic and powerful defense against sorcery. Mothers would suspend pieces of this plant to their children's clothes. The plant was also used in dying clothes, giving a crimson tinge to linen cloth. The dry Cistus bush was used to kindle wood-firing ovens as its aroma infused the products of baking (bread).
The Chemistry department of the University of Crete has conducted in depth research of the Cretan ladanum and identified many of its chemical and microbiological properties. From the Cistus creticus subspecies is extracted labdanum that is rich (40%) in diterpene and seskiterine, labdane-type substances with significant antimicrobial action.
Popular Greek names:
"Ladania", "Luvidkia", "Ledoni", "Xistori".
