Peeling broom
Adenocarpus decorticans
Family · Fabaceae · Harmless
The shrub of the high southeastern sierras with a mark no other native legume has: the bark peels off in thin curled strips, leaving the trunk looking deliberately stripped.
Uplands · Scrubland · Pine woods
Also known assilver broom of Spain
How to tell it
The bark peeling in strips is the definitive sign and shows in any season. Three small narrow leaflets, clustered in tufts along the branches. Yellow pea flowers in dense terminal clusters. Pods covered in sticky glands. Range: mainly a Spanish plant, practically absent from Portugal.
What it is confused with
No dangerous lookalikes known in the Iberian Peninsula.
What it is for
Firewood in the southeastern sierras, and little else. It is a structuring species of the high-altitude scrub of Cazorla, Sierra Nevada and Filabres.