Herbariuma Backpackers project
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Umbellate broom

Genista umbellata

Family · Fabaceae · Harmless

Umbellate broom (Genista umbellata)Umbellate broom (Genista umbellata)
Nanosanchez, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz, CC BY-SA 4.0

The grey, downy broom of arid southeastern scrub, covering itself in yellow clusters at the branch tips in March. It dominates whole slopes where rain is scarce.

Where it grows

Scrubland · Uplands · Roadsides and waste ground

Also known as

white-flowered broom

In flower

How to tell it

Thin, upright branches covered in flattened hairs, giving the bush a silvery grey tone. Yellow flowers grouped in a tight cluster at each branch tip, not scattered along it. No spines.

What it is confused with

Silvery anthyllis

Anthyllis cytisoides

Harmless confusion

They share the arid slope and the silvery tone. Albaida carries flowers in a spike along the rod; bolina gathers them into a single cluster at the tip.

Open sheet →

What it is for

It was firewood and brooms. Today it counts as a plant for stabilising arid soils, and is one of the few giving cover in the semi-desert areas of the southeast.

Sources