Genista pilosa L.

A deciduous shrub growing 1 to 11⁄2 ft high, procumbent when young, after­wards forming a low, tangled mass of slender, twiggy shoots. Leaves distributed along the branchlets of the year, but gathered in clusters on the year-old shoots; they are simple, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, narrowly obovate, the margins folded upwards, and the lower surface covered with closely pressed, silvery hairs. Flowers bright yellow, produced singly or in pairs (but each on its own short stalk) from the leaf-axils, the whole forming a crowded raceme 2 to 6 in. long; bracteoles on flower-stalks absent. Standard petal and keel both silky-hairy, wings glabrous. Pods 3⁄4 to 1 in. long, narrow, silky, two- to six-seeded.

A native of much of Europe as far east as Poland and the northern Balkans, and north to S.W. Scandinavia; rare and local in the British Isles on sandy and gravelly heaths. This pretty broom is valuable for forming a dense covering for the ground, even for plots planted with groups of taller shrubs or trees, provided of course it is not unduly shaded. It is also useful for the rock garden, and for covering dry, sunny banks. When in blossom the whole plant becomes a mass of bright yellow.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

† cv. ‘Goldilocks’. – This cultivar name has been given to a free-flowering clone previously propagated in Holland as G. pilosa simply.