(Spartium junceum), a bush of the family Leguminosae. The linear leaves are attached to green, straight, virgate branches. Leaf fall occurs early. The fragrant yellow flowers are monoecious and gathered into a long, loose apical raceme. The fruit is a linear, flat polyspermous bean that is weakly constricted. Spanish broom grows wild on the arid slopes in the Western Mediterranean Region and on the Canary Islands. It is cultivated in the USSR as an ornamental. It grows wild in the Crimea and the Caucasus. In Spain a durable fiber for coarse fabrics is obtained from the stems. The Spanish broom is a poisonous plant, containing the alkaloid sparteine.