The fact that some had spots and others not, can be 2 species
Well... As usually in nature, it is a bit more complicated than that.
Indeed, for the botanist the presence and absence of dots are used to differentiate between two species. Cistus ladanifer has red dots, cistus monspeliensis has no dots, for example. Both plants are considered to be endemic in the region, so we could say the red dots define one and not the other. The rest of the plants shows other small differences, e.g. in the leaves and indeed some of the plants I photographed have broader leaves than the others.
Except that the whole area has been covered by these wild plants over several dozen kilometers for decades and the plants hybridize easily. Also the form of the leaves does not appear to be uniquely related to the dots, while it should be to define the plants botanically. So the definition of "species" is not that easy. One can also say all these plants to be a single species with some variability in their flowers and leaves.
Possibly only a single species was endemic thousands of years ago and another one was brought over (by men or otherwise) and then the bees carry the pollen from one to the others. Possibly the two have cohabited since a longer time and the variability is an advantage and will continue as long as the conditions do not change.
