Ononis tridentata

Ononis tridentata, known in Spanish as garbancillera, is a low woody perennial or small shrub in the Fabaceae family, endemic to the western Mediterranean basin and especially characteristic of gypsum soils in Spain and North Africa. The plant forms compact, much-branched bushes 30 to 80 cm high, with somewhat glaucous stems and small, succulent leaves divided into three narrow, fleshy, sharply three-toothed leaflets that give the species its specific epithet. Pink to purplish pea-like flowers are borne in short, lax racemes at the branch tips during summer, each about 8 to 12 mm long. The fruit is a small inflated legume. Ononis tridentata is a classic indicator species of gypsum-rich soils (yesos), occurring on bare, sun-baked slopes and outcrops where few other shrubs can tolerate the high sulphate content and seasonal drought.