Common Name:
Broom
Over 30 species of deciduous or evergreen shrubs, or rarely small trees. Leaves alternate, usually trifoliate, and more rarely simple. Flowers usually yellow or white, pea-shaped, and fruit oblong, flat, 2 to many seeded. Native to north Africa, western Asia, Europe, and Canary Islands.
The common name Broom is not only applied to plants in the genus Cytisus, but also to those in several closely related genera, namely, Chamaecytisus (about 30 species) and Genista (about 90 sp.) and four "minor" genera, Petteria (1 sp.), Podocytisus (1 sp.), Retama (4 sp.), and Spartium (1 sp).
Cytisus: from the Greek kytisos, a kind of clover or clover-like plant.
Pronunciation:
SI-ti-sus
Family:
Fabaceae, Leguminosae