In hot summer sun its black hairy pods burst with an audible crack, scattering seeds
Common broom (Wildlife Trusts).
Nature · Shrubs
Common broom
Native · flowers Apr–Jun · heathland, grassland, open woodland and hedgerows
Cytisus scoparius — Fabaceae
A tall, deciduous, spineless shrub of heaths, banks and scrub with green, ridged whip-like stems and masses of golden pea flowers in spring. Its black, hairy pods burst open with a crack on hot summer days, and it gave the Plantagenets their name. It is often confused with gorse but has no spines.
How to spot them
- ▸Green, angled, whip-like stems with no spines
- ▸Large bright yellow pea-type flowers, scented, April to June
- ▸Small, short, often three-lobed leaves on the lower stems, single on the upper
- ▸Black, hairy, flattened pods that burst audibly in summer sun, flinging seeds
- ▸Look-alike: gorse is densely spiny, with smaller coconut-scented flowers and virtually no leaves; broom is spineless with bigger flowers and flattened leaves
How to know it
A yellow-flowered shrub like gorse, but without spines, with larger flowers and green ridged stems
Common broom.
The royal house of Plantagenet took its name from planta genista, the Latin for this plant
Common broom.
Its long, whip-like stems were bundled to make brushes for sweeping
Common broom.
A member of the pea family, its golden flowers smell of vanilla from April to June
Common broom.
Black, hairy, flattened pods hang on a spineless, yellow-flowered shrub of heaths whose stems are green and ridged; all parts contain toxic alkaloids
Common broom.
Quick-fire facts
- •Cytisus scoparius, family Fabaceae; scoparius means 'of brooms' — bundles of its stems made brooms
- •Wildlife Trusts: a large deciduous shrub up to 2 m, similar to gorse but with no spines, bigger flowers and short, flattened leaves; blooms April–June
- •Pods are hairy and black and open explosively in summer sunshine with a crack, dispersing seed
- •TOXICITY: all parts contain toxic alkaloids (such as sparteine) and it is considered poisonous; do not eat any part
- •Legend: Geoffrey of Anjou wore a sprig (planta genista) in his hat, giving the Plantagenet dynasty its name
- •Fixes nitrogen, like other legumes, so colonises poor, sandy, disturbed ground
- •Habitat: heathland, grassland, moorland, coast, open woodland and hedgerows (Wildlife Trusts)
- •Compare with gorse (Ulex europaeus), which is spiny and flowers virtually all year
Drill it — 6 cards
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Sources
- The Wildlife Trusts — Broom (Cytisus scoparius)