Retama broom
Retama sphaerocarpa
Family · Fabaceae · Irritating
The shrub of bare green rods that casts thin shade on the inland plains. It has almost no leaves: the stem does the photosynthesis, a solution for living where it rains little.
Montado · Fields and pasture · Roadsides and waste ground · Scrubland
Also known assphere-fruited broom
How to tell it
Green, smooth, thin rods hanging like a curtain. Tiny deciduous leaves, almost never present. Small yellow flowers and round pea-sized pods with a single seed.
What it is confused with
Broom
Cytisus striatus
The pod decides: retama's is round like a ball with one seed; broom's is flat, long and hairy, with several seeds.
Open sheet →What it is for
Shade and shelter for livestock and young plants in the montado, and brooms in the past. It contains alkaloids and is not a plant to eat, even though livestock browse it without trouble.