Genista monosperma (L.) Lam.

TSO logo

Sponsor this page

For information about how you could sponsor this page, see How You Can Help

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Genista monosperma' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/genista/genista-monosperma/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Spartium monospermum L.
  • Retama monosperma (L.) Boiss.
  • Lygos monosperma (L.) Heywood

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
calyx
(pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
corolla
The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
cuspidate
Ending abruptly in a sharp point.
linear
Strap-shaped.
pendent
Hanging.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Genista monosperma' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/genista/genista-monosperma/). Accessed 2024-03-28.

A straggling, unarmed shrub 2 to 4 ft high in this country, but more than twice as high in its native state; branches very slender, pendent, and rush­like, grooved, covered with short, silky hairs when young. Leaves few and inconspicuous, 14 to 34 in. long, linear. Racemes short, silky, distributed along the branches, 12 to 112 in. long, carrying from five to fifteen blossoms. Flowers milky white and delightfully fragrant, 12 in. long; the petals covered with silky hairs, the calyx dark, and contrasting with the petals; keel of corolla cuspidate at the apex. Pods wrinkled, obovoid, mucronate at the apex, about 12 in. long, containing one (sometimes two) black-brown seeds.

Native of S. Portugal, S.W. Spain, and N. Africa, mostly on coastal sands. It has always been rare because of its tenderness. In the Scilly Isles it thrives admirably, but near London it needs the protection of a sunny, sheltered wall, such as that outside a hothouse. The soil must be lightish and well drained. In its native country the thin flexible branches are used for tying – in the same way as willows are here.