[Joanna Savage]

Earlier today I was lamenting to myself that this is really not the place to try to grow Cistus ladanifer. I especially like var. sulcatus, the pure white. And of course the marvellously scented leaves. They rarely last more than a year here (Toscana 350 m.). Perhaps I should try to master taking cuttings and treat them as an annual.

Browsing around on the internet I came on a surprise which I imagine everyone else has always known. i.e. Cistus is the source of labdanum, and I had always thought it produced laudanum, which, of course, if I had thought about it,is an opiate from poppies. Very different substances.

Then I wondered if any of our Cretan forum members have seen labdanum being collected with what looks like a wide single layered flail which is brushed over the Cistus. It seems the labdanum wax is then removed and added to a cake form, by running two fingers along the length of one strand of the flail. Patience required.

[John J]

Joanna, sorry I haven't replied earlier.
Georgios Hadjikyriakou in his book, 'Aromatic and Spicy Plants of Cyprus' (From antiquity to the present day), records that although the epithet ladanifer was given to this plant Cistus creticus is actually the main producer of labdanum.
Herodotus (484-430 BC) refers to labdanum being collected from the beards of goats. Dioscuridis (1st century AD) extols the quality of Cyprian labdanum. He records that it was collected in one of two ways; either by shepherds grazing their goats through stands of Cistus (probably creticus as this is indigenous to Cyprus while ladanifer is introduced) and collecting the sticky gum from their beards and legs; or by dragging a flail made from leather straps  through the bushes. In both cases the gum was boiled in water and then strained through fine cloth to remove any impurities before being made into balls.
According to Dioscuridis along with its major properties it also "arrests the loss of hair, when mixed with wine, myrrh and myrtle oil". Eighteen centuries later Mitrofanis states that "when your hair falls out be incensed with labdanum and they become firm".
I'm getting a bit thin on top so maybe I should give it a try.