Genista sphaerocarpa
Credits
Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles
Recommended citation
'Genista sphaerocarpa' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Genus
Synonyms
- Spartium sphaerocarpon L.
- Lygos sphaerocarpa (L.) Heywood
- Retama sphaerocarpa (L.) Boiss.
Other taxa in genus
- Genista aetnensis
- Genista anglica
- Genista cinerea
- Genista delphinensis
- Genista ephedroides
- Genista falcata
- Genista florida
- Genista germanica
- Genista hispanica
- Genista horrida
- Genista januensis
- Genista lobelii
- Genista lydia
- Genista monosperma
- Genista nyssana
- Genista pilosa
- Genista 'Porlock'
- Genista radiata
- Genista sagittalis
- Genista scorpius
- Genista sericea
- Genista sylvestris
- Genista tenera
- Genista tinctoria
- Genista villarsii
A deciduous shrub 3 to 4 ft high (or more in cultivation); stems erect, slender, ribbed, mostly glabrous, pale green. Leaves simple, stalkless, very small and downy beneath, only present on young plants and soon falling, leaving the plant leafless for the greater part of its career. Flowers yellow, 1⁄8 to 1⁄6 in. long, crowded and set alternately in two rows on axillary racemes 1⁄2 to 11⁄2 in. long, borne mostly singly or in pairs; calyx and corolla glabrous; pods globose, 1⁄2 in. wide, carrying usually one kidney-shaped seed.
Native of N. Africa and Spain, cultivated in the Jardin du Roi, Paris, in 1780. Interesting for its very numerous tiny blossoms open in May and June and its curious, globose pods.