Rock rose

Cistus L. or rock rose, is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants that have hard leaves and grow in open areas of stony and infertile soils. They are indigenous to the Mediterranean region. The genus is currently thought to comprise approximately 20 species, of which 16 occur in Europe.

It extends from sea level to 800 m in arid and warm areas of chaparral and garrigue, has five violet petals on its bisexual flowers (rock rose), numerous stamens, the fruit a capsule and the seeds small, with hard water-impermeable coating (Papaefthimiou et al. 2014).

In C. creticus subsp. creticus several terpenes (monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and labdane-type diterpenes) and phenyl propanoids-flavonoids have been reported (Zaleg et al. 2021).

Validity behind the traditional use of C. creticus against cancer cells was recently revealed while extracts rich in diterpenes showed in vitro efficacy against breast, melanoma and cervix cancer cell lines (Skorić et al. 2012). Although the plant’s extracts demonstrated adequate cancer cell inhibition, healthy human cells were not affected in these studies, hinting at a good safety profile (Moreira et al. 2017).
Moreover, cytotoxic assay was performed for the crude C. incanus (C creticus) extracts against the human colon adenocarcinoma cells and a moderate yet well measurable cytotoxic effect was observed with all investigated C. incanus samples. In analogy to antibacterial activity, also in this case cytotoxic potential of all investigated crude C. incanus extracts was similar (Szeremeta et al. 2018).

Despite that, the data on safety/genotoxicity do not be considered sufficient to support a European Union list entry for the abovementioned herbal preparations and indications.

Cistus creticus L., endemic Mediterranean species was used as healing herbal tea and consumption has been described mainly traditionally for the relief of upper respiratory disorders (cough associated with cold).

Even though the published data referring to the exact proposed indications and preparations are limited, the scientific data on the mentioned pharmacological activities do not contradict the plausibility of the proposed indications for traditional uses.