categoryZShrubs Shrubs List 
categoryZBroadleaf Broadleaf List 
categoryZDeciduous Deciduous List 

MONTPELLIER BROOM

FRENCH BROOM

Genista monspessulana

(Formerly: Cytisus monpessulanus)
Pea Family [Fabaceae]

month8apr month8april month8may month8jun month8june

category
category8Shrubs
category
category8Broadleaf
category
category8Evergreen
status
statusZneophyte
flower
flower8yellow
 
morph
morph8zygo
 
petals
petalsZ5
 
stem
stem8round
 
stem
stem8ribbed
 
toxicity
toxicityZmedium
 

10th July 2008, Brading Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Mike Cotterill
A Mediterranean upright shrub growing to 2m high (up to 3m) which now grows in the South of England and the Channel Islands.


10th July 2008, Brading Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Mike Cotterill
The stems are woody and without spines.


10th July 2008, Brading Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Mike Cotterill
Flowers yellow and in small groups of 3 to 9 in a short raceme.


10th July 2008, Brading Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Mike Cotterill
All the leaves are ternate (meaning in threes) and obovate (broadest nearer the end) tapering to a point at the tip. The flowers are between 9 and 12mm long. There might be the beginnings of seed pods in the lower left - the densely hairy objects.


9th June 2011, Knighton Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
The leaves are hairy and on short stalks. The non-woody stems are ribbed/grooved (whichever is your pleasure).


9th June 2011, Knighton Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
Flowers pea-type. The seed pods are 15-25mm long, are densely hairy and contain between 3 and 6 seeds. The pods burst open when the seeds are ripe with some force, flinging the few seeds a few metres. A mature plant can produce up to 10,000 seeds every season.


9th June 2011, Knighton Down, IoW. Photo: (CC by 2.0) Geoff Toone
Withering flowers.


20th Sept 2014, Isle of Wight. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
It is now September and there are no flowers left, just leaves and seed pods...


20th Sept 2014, Isle of Wight. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
The lower parts of the stems have turned woody and the flowers there have turned to seed pods.


20th Sept 2014, Isle of Wight. Photo: © Dawn Nelson
Seed pods brown but covered in a dense mat of long white hairs which are partially swept backwards. The fruits are between 15 to 25mm long and contain between 3 and 6 seeds. The lowest pod, seen edge-on, has 5 bulges so that one has has 5 seeds.


Not to be semantically confused with : Brome [several grasses with similar names] nor with Witch's Broom (a gall on a tree) nor with Butcher's Broom (a strange flowering plant where what look like leaves are in fact modified stems) nor with any Broomrapes such as Ivy Broomrape (parasitic plants unable to synthesize their own nutrients for they lack the green photosynthisizing Chlorophyll).

It is an introduced non-native plant. A Mediterranean upright shrub growing to 2m high (up to 3m) which now grows in the South of England and the Channel Islands.

QUINOLIZIDINE ALKALOIDS

The leaves and seeds contain toxic quinolizine alkaloids, the major ones being DeHydroPhylline and N-MethylCytisine which accounts for 75% of the total. Sparteine and Cytisine are also present.


In some parts of the World where it is introduced it can become highly invasive displacing most other plants.


  Genista monspessulana  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Fabaceae  

Distribution
 family8Pea family8Fabaceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Genista
Genista
(Spanish Broom)

MONTPELLIER BROOM

FRENCH BROOM

(Formerly: Cytisus monpessulanus)

Genista monspessulana

Pea Family [Fabaceae]