Hairybroom

Cytisus villosus, known as hairybroom, is a deciduous shrub in the Fabaceae family, native to southern Europe and parts of North Africa, where it grows in maquis, open woodlands, sunny rocky slopes and forest clearings on acid or siliceous soils. The plant reaches 1 to 2 metres in height, with slender, erect to ascending, ridged green stems that bear a covering of soft, appressed, silky hairs particularly when young — the source of both the specific epithet and the common name. The trifoliolate leaves are alternate and short-stalked, with three obovate to elliptic leaflets 1 to 2.5 centimetres long, dark green and glabrous above but silky-hairy beneath. Flowers appear in late spring borne singly or in pairs in the axils of the upper leaves; each is a typical pea-shaped corolla about 1.5 to 2 centimetres long with bright yellow petals, the standard sometimes marked with a brownish or reddish stain. The fruit is a flattened, pubescent, blackish legume 2 to 5 centimetres long containing several glossy seeds.