SPANISH BROOM

A tall shrub with wand-like, almost leafless branches and brilliant yellow flowers, Spanish broom has become naturalized in most areas of Southern California.

Called an attractive nuisance by native plant enthusiasts, the evergreen shrub is especially common on dry slopes in the lower foothills. Spanish broom (Spartium junceum) is seldom seen very far from a roadside.

The shrub and its relatives French broom (Cystisus monspessulanus) and Scotch broom (Cystisus scoparious) , thrive so well that they sometimes crowd out native plants.

Spanish broom blends in so well with other chaparral shrubs that it is hardly noticeable when not in bloom. It has showy, fragrant flowers characteristic of the pea family. During the spring and summer, the shrub has clusters of inch-long flowers on short stalks on both sides of the plant’s main stems.

Flowers are followed by hairy, linear pods with many seeds. The leaves are small, half an inch to an inch long, and oval. All parts of the plant are poisonous.

Pictured here is Spanish broom growing by a roadside in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Spartium is from the Greek word meaning “broom.” Brooms used on household floors were once made of plants with this name.