Spartium junceum
Environmental Weed (2024)
Common names
Spanish broom
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Dicotyledons
Flower colours
Yellow
Detailed description
Deciduous shrub up to 3 m high. Mature branches and stems are stout, rounded, green to dark green, glabrous and with few leaves. Leaves simple entire and oblong, up to 25 mm on mature branches, up to 45 mm on shaded shoots or seedlings. Inflorescence with numerous golden flowers, up to 28 mm long. Seed pod 50-90 mm long, flattened, becoming glabrous, seeds smooth and dark brown.
Similar taxa
The unusually shaped Calyx (outer green floral parts) with 5 reduced teeth on one side distinguishes Spanish broom from all other wild NZ legumes (Webb et al 1988).
Habitat
Terrestrial.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Flowering
December, January, February, March, April, May
Year naturalised
1940
Origin
Mediterranean
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Life cycle and dispersal
Perennial. Reproduces by seed (many are produced).
Other information
Environmental Weed (2024)
This plant is named in a list of 386 environmental weeds in New Zealand 2024 prepared by DOC. 759 candidate species were considered for inclusion on this new comprehensive list of environmental weeds in New Zealand. The species considered were drawn from published lists of weed species, lists of plants that must be reported or managed by law if observed, existing national and regional programmes and agreements for pest management, and species already managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC). Candidate species were then assessed to see if they were fully naturalised and whether they have more than minor impacts in natural ecosystems. Read the full report here.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
SPAJUN