Anthyllis cytisoides L.
Eng.: Albaida broom, vetch. Spa.: Albaida, boja blanca. Fre.: Anthyllide faux cytise.
Subshrub, up to 0.8(1) m in height, hermaphrodite, evergreen, very ramose, generally hemispherical in shape. Stems and branches briefly extended at first, then very erect or nearly vertical, with bark from greyish-brown to whitish. Branchlets herbaceous, whitish, densely covered by a tomentum of very fine whitish hairs. Leaves 7-35 mm, alternate; lower leaves unifoliolate, middle and upper leaves trifoliolate —with the central leaflet larger than the lateral leaflets—; leaflets elliptical, entire, acute, attenuated at the base, sessile or subsessile, ± villous and green or greenish-whitish on both sides, a bit duller on the underside. Inflorescence terminal in racemes, very long, with flowers grouped in fascicles of 1-3 discontinuously along the main axis. Calyx tubular, with 5 subequal teeth, narrow, acute, shorter than the tube, densely villous. Corolla 9-12(14) mm, papilionoid, yellow, with standard longer than the wings and keel. Androecium submonadelphous. Ovary substipitate, with 7-10 rudimentary seminal primordia, style straight. Pod 3-4 × 2, ovoid, apiculate, glabrous, surrounded by the persistent calyx, with few seeds. Seeds 1.2 × 2 mm.
Flowering:
April to June, but some flowers can appear almost throughout the year.
Fruiting:
June to August.
Habitat:
Cleared forests and thickets on very diverse terrains, in semiarid to subhumid bioclimate, mainly on thermomediterranean floors.
Distribution:
Western Mediterranean region. In North Africa it grows in almost all the littoral and sublittoral mountains of eastern and Mediterranean Morocco, throughout most of the eastern Rif and reaching towards the S to the Middle Atlas (Tazekka Massif). In Algeria, in the western Tellian Atlas (mountains of Oran, Tlemcen, etc.), reaching towards the E through the Dahra mountains to the vicinity of Cherchell, then reappearing even further E in Guraya near Béjaïa.
Conservation status:
A common and widespread species, not considered threatened. Currently, it has not been assessed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.