''Genista linifolia'' is a species of broom known by the common names Mediterranean broom, needle-leaved broom and flax broom. It is native to southwestern Europe, North Africa, and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

Description

This is a

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

with hairy green stems and branches which can exceed two meters in height. Its leaves are made up of tough, green, lance-shaped leaflets with woolly undersides. Flowers appear in dense raceme inflorescences toward the ends of the branches. The flowers are bright yellow and pealike. The fruit is a hairy legume pod one to four centimeters long containing several seeds.

Invasive plant species

It can be found on other continents in areas of similar Mediterranean climate, such as California in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. It has become an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in those regions.

References

External links

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Jepson Manual TreatmentPhoto gallery
linifolia Flora of the Canary Islands Flora of North Africa Flora of Spain Matorral shrubland Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Faboideae-stub