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Cytisus fontanesii Spach

Modern name

Cytisus fontanesii Ball

Synonyms

Chronanthus biflorus (Desf.) Frodin & Heywood

An erect deciduous shrub 1 to 2 ft high, stems angled, glabrous, sometimes sparse and lanky or sometimes sturdy and crowded, internodes often 34 to 114 in. apart. Leaves trifoliolate; leaflets linear, mostly 14 to 12 in. long, 116 in. or less wide, hairy, main-stalk very short. Flowers yellow, usually two to four at the tips of the shoots, shortly stalked; corolla 12 in. long, standard glabrous; calyx 18 in. long, membranous. Pod 38 in. to 34 in. long; glabrous. Flowers in May.

Native of Spain, usually in calcareous districts. It is a curious shrub with very meagre foliage, giving the shoots a spartium-like appearance. It varies much in regard to pubescence: the type is regarded as quite or nearly glabrous, but in var. plumosus Boiss. most of the parts are very noticeably hairy. It appears also to be the more attractive.


Genus

Cytisus

Other species in the genus