Echinospartum boissieri

Echinospartum boissieri is a spiny, cushion-forming shrub in the legume family (Fabaceae) endemic to the calcareous mountains of southern Spain and the Rif of northern Morocco. It typically grows as a dense, hemispherical mound 30–80 cm tall, with rigid, opposite, ridged green branches that terminate in sharp spines, giving the plant a hedgehog-like appearance. The small leaves are trifoliolate with narrow leaflets, often deciduous and inconspicuous, leaving the photosynthetic role largely to the green stems. Bright yellow papilionate flowers, 12–18 mm long, are clustered at the tips of branches in late spring and early summer, and are followed by densely silky, oblong legumes that contain a few small seeds. The species is characteristic of high-mountain steppes and rocky limestone slopes between roughly 1,200 and 2,000 m elevation, where it forms part of distinctive cushion-shrub communities. It is considered a vulnerable habitat-defining species and is protected within several natural parks in Andalusia.