Hedgehog broom
Erinacea anthyllis
Family · Fabaceae · Irritating
Irritant
The spiny cushion of the high limestone sierras, so compact and so hard you could sit on it without crushing it. In May it covers itself in violet-blue flowers, and it is one of the most surprising sights in the Iberian mountains.
Where it grows
Uplands
Also known asblue broom, branch thorn
In flower
How to tell it
A hemispherical, grey, rigid cushion of interwoven branches all ending in spines. Tiny, short-lived leaves. Violet-blue pea flowers emerging straight from among the spines. Only at altitude, above a thousand metres.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
None. The cushion form is an answer to wind, frost and grazing: inside it creates its own microclimate, and many rare mountain plants germinate under these cushions.