Petty whin

Genista anglica, the petty whin or needle furze, is a low, much-branched, spiny shrub in the legume family Fabaceae reaching about 1 m tall, though often much lower. The slender, wiry, ribbed green stems are armed with stiff straight or slightly curved spines and bear small, narrow, lanceolate, hairless leaves only a few millimetres long. From May to June the upper branches carry short terminal racemes of small, bright yellow pea-flowers about 8–10 mm long, followed by smooth, inflated, somewhat curved pods 1.5–2 cm long containing a few small seeds. It is native to western and central Europe, where it is a characteristic plant of damp heaths, moors and acid peaty grasslands, growing on poor sandy or peaty soils. In Britain its strongholds are Cornwall, Wales and eastern Scotland; the species has declined in many areas with the loss of traditional heathland habitat. No significant medicinal, culinary or dye tradition is recorded.