Broom

(Cytisus scoparius)

 

   

 

Color Photograph: U.S. Bureau of Land Management

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

 

Broom (Cytisus scoparius [L.] Link.)

Alien: Native of Europe.

Identification: Flowers yellow, pealike. Style curled and stamens projecting upward. Flowers arising from leaf axils. Seedpod looks like a peapod. Stem anglulate, very wiry, stiff. Leaves small, with 3 leaflets, with a short petiole and closely held to the stem. Plant 3 to 5 feet in height.

Distribution: Southeastern Canada and the northeastern United States southward to Georgia and Alabama. Also found in California and the Pacific Northwest.

Habitat: Broom is found in sandy soils, particularly in pine barrens and along sandy roadsides.

Flowering period: May to June.

Similar Species: Gorse has rigid spines rather than leaves.

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