Genista canariensis

Canary broom

Family: Fabaceae · Type: shrub · Not Native

Canary broom is a naturalized shrub found in southern California coastal and western Transverse Ranges in disturbed places at elevations below 1,000 meters. Flowering from February to April, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in terminal racemes 10 to 60 millimeters long. Growing to less than 3 meters tall with young twigs covered in silky hairs, the shrub develops a distinctive branching structure. Its leaves feature 5 to 10 small obovate or round leaflets, sparsely hairy on the upper surface and densely hairy underneath, with tiny stipules less than 2 millimeters long. The fruit is a hairy pod 15 to 30 millimeters long, containing 5 to 8 seeds.

Habitat: Uncommon. Disturbed places

Bloom period: Feb-Apr

Elevation: < 1000 m

Bioregions: SCo, WTR

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.