BROOM : Cytisus scoparius
The local plants are also called Scotch Broom or Common Broom.
Broom is often confused with gorse. Gorse has bright yellow flowers and many spiky prickles. Broom has bright yellow flowers, but no prickes. It is quite likely got its name from its long, whip-like stems being cut and tied together to make brooms and this also gives us a clue as to its identity. There is much more to the difference than that, but that is an easy way to remember which is which.
Broom is a fairly large, deciduous shrub, up to as much as 3m high which found on muirland or in open woodlands and along hedges. IN fact it copes very well in poor soils. Its bright yellow flowers appear in spring from April to June and are said to smell of vanilla.
The stalks have stayed green all winter. Then in late March / early April they start to sprout.
When seen as an individual bush, you can appreciate its stalks that brooms can be made from. Its flowers look so much like that of gorse until looked at closer.
Lovely yellow flowers on long stalks (without any thorns).
This is a large and impressive stand of broom on disturbed ground in Dillichip in the Vale of Leven.
Compare with gorse / whin - index.asp?pageid=731575
WILDLIFE TRUSTS : https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/trees-and-shrubs/broom
