Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Cytisus scoparius
Common name
English broom, Scotch broom, Broom
Family
Fabaceae
Where found
Woodland, shrubland, grassy areas, roadsides and disturbed sites, and along streams. Widespread.
Notes
Introduced shrub, sprawling or to 4m tall. Branches 5-angled, or with 5 longitudinal ridges, hairy, becoming hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, compound, with 1 or 3 leaflets, leaflets 0.5-2 cm long, 1.5-10 mm wide, lower surface and sometimes upper surface hairy, tips pointed or blunt. Often leafless. Flowers pea shaped, with 5 petals, 2 joined together to form the keel, 15-20 mm long. Petals yellow to orange yellow, sometimes with red markings. Flowers single or in pairs. Flowers Spring to Autumn.
Cytisus scoparius subsp. scoparius in NSW. Subspecies are not recognised by the Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria (accessed 30 April 2021)
A Weed of National Significance. General Biosecurity Duty with additional restrictions in all NSW. Pest plant ACT. Noxious weed Vic.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Cytisus~scoparius (accessed 30 April 2021)
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