It leaves are green, oblong in shape, usually 2–6 cm (0.8–2.4 in) long by 5–20 mm (0.2–0.8 in) wide, with turned under (revolute) margins, variably hairy, with long simple and stellate hairs on both sides.

[5][6] In 1826, Robert Sweet published the name Cistus psilosepalus,[7] which was then applied to this species by many authors.

[6] In 1997, Jean-Pierre Demoly identified Sweet's type as C. × laxus Aiton, a hybrid between this species and C.

[3] In C. × laxus the backs of the outer sepals are hairless (glabrous); in C. inflatus they are hairy.

[4] A 2011 molecular phylogenetic study placed C. inflatus in the white and whitish pink clade of Cistus species.