It is native to southern Europe and northern Africa, in the Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub ecosystems of matorral—maquis shrublands.

Cistus monspeliensis is a shrub with narrow evergreen leaves and a hairy, glandular, sticky surface.

The leaves are linear to lance-shaped, green, with a rugose, wrinkled upper surface, up to 5 centimeters long.

In cultivation, C. monspeliensis attains a height of around one meter and a width of 1.5 metres.

[2] The plant's inflorescence is generally a panicle of 2 to 8 flowers, each with five sepals and five white petals.