Dear All, The wildflower pictures I shared were taken some kilometers away from my home in the wild. This is a north facing slope on laterite soil not much above sea level. It is one of my favorite places because it has a rich native flora. Cistus belongs to those pioneer plants that colonize quickly after fire, whole mountain slopes are covered in them. Cistus albidus can be ground hugging and cushion forming if it grows in exposed places or waist high in more sheltered and fertile sites. The problem with Cistus is that during the next fire it will burn so very hot due to its content of volatile oil that all other growth including young trees will be killed, too. This explains the tre-less Cistus slopes. Fire regulations ban it near houses for this reason. Bye for now Uli _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net http://lists.pacificbulbsociety.net/cgi-bin/… Unsubscribe: <mailto:pbs-unsubscribe@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net>