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Genista florida L.

Modern name

Genista florida L.

Synonyms

G. leptoclada Spach; G. polygalifolia DC.; G. florida var. maroccana Ball; G. florida var. atlantica E. K. Balls, nom. ined.

A shrub up to 8 ft high in the wild; shoots erect, distinctly grooved, downy. Leaves simple, shortly stalked, elliptic to oblanceolate or linear, mostly 58 to 78 in. long, rarely to 1 in., and 18 to 14 in. wide, but in some plants only 124 to 112 in. wide, silky-hairy on both sides, but especially beneath. Flowers yellow, 12 in. long, borne towards the top of the shoots, making racemes or leafy panicles 1 to 3 in. long; standard petal broadly ovate with at most a few scattered silky hairs. Pods narrowly oblong, silky, with three to eight seeds.

Native of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. This species seems to be little known in cultivation, but the Moroccan plants are said to be very beautiful, with silvery leaves and fragrant flowers (Journ. R.H.S., Vol. 69, p. 358, and Vol. 90, p. 386). But judging from the material from Morocco in the Kew Herbarium the plants there fit into the normal range of variation of the species.


Genus

Genista

Other species in the genus