Spartium

Spartium 

a genus of plants of the family Leguminosae. Its sole species is the Spanish, or weaver’s, broom (Spartium junceum), a shrub measuring up to 3.5 m high. The green branches are nearly leafless. The leaves are entire and easily detach from the stems. The yellow flowers are fragrant and gathered in loose terminal racemes that are up to 45 cm long. The fruit is a linear pod with numerous seeds.

Spanish broom grows wild in the Mediterranean region and southwestern Europe. In the USSR, it is cultivated as an ornamental shrub in the Caucasus, the Crimea (where it sometimes grows wild), the Ukraine, and Middle Asia. The branches are used in basketry, and the fiber obtained from the phloem is made into ropes and fishing lines. The flowers contain large amounts of essential oil.

REFERENCE

Derev’ia i kustarniki SSSR, vol. 4. Moscow-Leningrad, 1958.