Cistus × purpureus (Orchid Rockrose)

Developed in cultivation from Cistus creticus and Cistus ladanifer, this plant is a bushy evergreen shrub with narrow, dull green leaves arranged in opposite pairs. Its bowl-shaped flowers have five crinkled, purplish-pink petals, each marked by a deep red blotch near the base, around numerous yellow stamens. Flowers can reach about three inches across. Each bloom lasts only a day, but new flowers open successively over the flowering period. It holds the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit. Photographed in Bogotá, Colombia.