National Botanic Garden of Wales, United Kingdom

Common name: Madeira broom, Easter broom, leafy broom, sweet broom

Family: Fabaceae subfam. Faboideae

Synonym: Teline stenopetala

Distribution: Canary Islands, Cape Verde

Life form: Evergreen shrub/sub-shrub • Llwyn bytholwyrdd

Geirdarddiad / Etymology: Genista (jih-NIS-tuh): Latin name from which the Plantagenet kings and queens of England took their name (planta genesta).

Geirdarddiad / Etymology: stenopetala (sten-oh-PET-al-uh): From the Greek stenos- (narrow) and -petalum (petal).

Description: An evergreen shrub growing to 3 metres tall. The leaves are trifoliate, the leaflets 1–3 centimetres long, narrow elliptic, coated with fine silky, silvery hairs. The strongly scented flowers are yellow, 1–2 centimetres long, produced in racemes 5–11 centimetres long. The flowers appear in late winter or early spring. The fruit is a pod 2–3 centimetres long.