Weed Identification

Australia > > Broom (Scotch)

Broom (Scotch)

Cytisus scoparius

Alternative Name(s): Scotch Broom, English Broom

Family: Fabaceae.

Form: Shrub

Origin: Native to Europe.

Flowers/Seedhead: Flowers: Surrounded by hairless calyx. Flowers mostly late winter to summer.

Description: Shrub to 4 m tall with a stout taproot. Seedpods 2–7 cm long and about 1 cm wide. Seed green to yellowish-brown, up to 22 per pod but usually less than 15.

Distinguishing features: Distinguished by stems with 5 sides; flowers pea-like, yellow, 1.5–2.5 cm long and pods with hairy margins.

Dispersal: Seeds explosively released from ripe pods. Seeds are also moved in mud attached to vehicles, animals and footwear, or by water and in silt along watercourses downstream of existing stands.

Confused With: Species of yellow-flowered Genista, most commonly with Montpellier Broom, Genista monspessulana, which has pods that are hairy all over.


Pea-like yellow flowers, 5-sided stems
& pods with hairy margins

Notes: Introduced to Australia in the 1800s as an ornamental. A major woody weed of temperate areas, especially the Barrington Tops, NSW. Like many legumes, Broom is hard-seeded and only some seeds germinate at any time. There can be up to 20,000 seeds per square metre in the soil. There are hybrids with red and yellow flowers and these also naturalise.

References:

    Noxious Weeds of Australia. W. Parsons and E. Cuthbertson, 1992, pages 469–472. The Biology of Australian Weeds. F Panetta et al. (eds), Vol. 2, 1998, pages 77–88.

Web References: Search Australian web sites for further information on this weed.

Infestation at Barrington Tops, NSW
photo J.R. Hosking
Seed
photo J.R. Hosking

This weed has been included in the WEEDeck field guide as card S09

More information about WEEDeck is available from Sainty & Associates Pty. Ltd.

 

Australia > > Broom (Scotch)

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