Genet

Spartium junceum, the Spanish broom or genet, is a deciduous Mediterranean shrub of the Fabaceae family native to southern Europe and north-west Africa and widely cultivated and naturalised in warm-temperate regions worldwide. It typically grows two to three metres tall, with an upright habit and stout, smooth, dark green, rush-like cylindrical stems that carry out most of the plant's photosynthesis. The small, sparse, simple lanceolate leaves drop quickly, leaving the stems bare for most of the year. From late spring through summer, long terminal racemes of large, fragrant, bright yellow pea-flowers open and mature into flattened, hairy black pods containing several poisonous seeds. The shrub favours dry, sunny, well-drained slopes and tolerates poor calcareous soils.