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Anagyris foetida
Also called Bean Trefoil
A malodorous, summer-deciduous shrub or small tree of the Mediterranean, growing 2 to 4 m tall, with silvery grey-green leaves and yellow, Laburnum-like flowers that smell of cabbage. It is a drought-tolerant plant best suited to sunny, well-drained sites.
Anagyris foetida (English common name stinking bean trefoil), is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, forming a malodorous, Summer-deciduous shrub or small tree 2–4 m in height with green twigs bearing grey-green trifoliate leaves clad beneath in silvery hairs. The red-tinged, yellow, Laburnum-like flowers are borne on the previous season's growth and are pollinated mainly by birds and bees - notably the buff-tailed bumblebee.The large spot of red pigmentation on the flowers is located on the exterior of the standard, the interior of which bears, in turn, many small, deep red spots.
The alkaloid anagyrine, present in the seeds, causes, in warm-blooded animals, first slowing of the breathing and heartbeat and ultimately cessation of respiration and cardiac arrest.
The plant has a circum-Mediterranean distribution in Europe and North Africa, with extensions into Turkey, Iran and the Arabian peninsula.
The blossom smells strongly of cabbage, and all parts of the plant were used medicinally, particularly in cases surrounding childbirth problems.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Anagyris foetida by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
