Ulex baeticus

Ulex baeticus, the Baetic gorse, is a spiny evergreen shrub in the family Fabaceae endemic to the southern Iberian Peninsula, particularly the Baetic mountain ranges of Andalusia and adjacent parts of southern Spain and Portugal. Plants are densely branched, intricate, and 50-150 cm tall, occasionally reaching 2 m, forming impenetrable cushions on rocky slopes. The terminal shoots and secondary axes are modified into stiff sharp green spines 1.5-4 cm long, taking over the photosynthetic role of the much-reduced leaves; adult leaves are scale-like or absent on mature plants, replaced by phyllodes in young growth. Flowers are bright golden yellow, typical pea-shape, 10-15 mm long, with a softly hairy calyx that is about as long as the corolla and divided to the base into two large lips. They are solitary or in small clusters at the bases of upper spines. Flowering occurs from late winter through spring, sometimes again in autumn. The fruit is a small hairy legume 6-10 mm long, dark brown to blackish at maturity, dehiscing explosively and containing 1-3 hard seeds. The species inhabits dry sunny rocky slopes, garrigue, calcareous matorral, and degraded oak woodland margins on limestone and dolomite substrates.