Genista scorpius (L.) DC.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Genista scorpius' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/genista/genista-scorpius/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Spartium scorpius L.

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
authority
The author(s) of a plant name. The names of these authors are stated directly after the plant name often abbreviated. For example Quercus L. (L. = Carl Linnaeus); Rhus wallichii Hook. f. (Hook. f. = Joseph Hooker filius i.e. son of William Hooker). Standard reference for the abbreviations: Brummitt & Powell (1992).
axillary
Situated in an axil.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous
Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
lanceolate
Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.
linear
Strap-shaped.
simple
(of a leaf) Unlobed or undivided.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Genista scorpius' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/genista/genista-scorpius/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

A shrub 3 to 6 ft high with numerous interlacing, angular, grey stems, armed with stout axillary simple or branched spines. Leaves simple, linear-lanceolate, 18 to 716 in. long, 116 to 112 in. wide, slightly hairy beneath; petioles with a pair of short spines near the apex. Flowers yellow, produced in early summer in axillary clusters on the upper part of the stems and along the spines. Lips of calyx equal, shorter than the tube. Standard glabrous, 516 to 12 in. long; keel glabrous, slightly shorter than the standard. Pods linear-oblong, containing three to seven brownish-green seeds.

Native of southern France and Spain (the same or a very closely related species in Corsica and Sardinia), inhabiting dry places; although Aiton, citing Lobel as his authority, gives 1570 as the earliest known date of cultivation in Britain, it is probable that it was not introduced until the late 18th or early 19th century. It is an interesting strongly armed shrub, almost leafless by midsummer.