Calicotome spinosa
(L.) Link Spiny BroomErect shrub to c. 3 m tall; stems well-branched, glabrous, spinescent. Leaves with petiole to c. 10 mm long; leaflets obovate, 5–10 mm long, 2–5 mm wide, middle leaflet largest, subsessile, upper surface glabrous, lower surface sparsely appressed-hairy, apex more or less obtuse, mucronate. Flowers 1–5 in axillary clusters towards ends of branches; pedicels c. 5 mm long, slender, pubescent; calyx 2–3 mm long, hairy, becoming cup-like when apices of teeth break away as flower opens; corolla yellow, 12–15 mm long. Pod linear-oblong, 25–40 mm long, c. 6 mm wide, winged along lower margin, glabrous, spine-tipped; seeds 5–15, cordate, c. 3 mm long, compressed, brown, shiny. Flowers mainly Nov.–Dec.
MuM, Wim, VVP, VRiv, MuF, GipP, WaP, Gold, CVU, GGr, HSF, HNF. Native to the Mediterranean region. A garden or hedge plant that has become established in a few higher rainfall parts of the State. Declared a noxious weed in Victoria.
Jeanes, J.A. (1996). Fabaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 663–829. Inkata Press, Melbourne.