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Mt. Etna broom

Genista aetnensis

Also called Mount Etna Broom

Mt. Etna broom
Photo: Velela, CC BY-SA 3.0

Mt. Etna broom is a large shrub or small tree from the Mediterranean islands of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, growing to about 8 m in open, sunny, well-drained sites. The key to growing it is full sun and lean, stony soil with little watering once established.

Family
Fabaceae (Pea & bean family)
Grows as
Tree, Shrub
Light
Full sun
Water
Water sparingly, letting the soil dry out between waterings; established plants need little or no irrigation.
Soil
Poor, stony, well-drained soil; avoid rich or waterlogged mixes.
Temperature
Mediterranean climate; hardy to around -5 °C once established, protect young plants from hard frost.
How easy
Easy

About

Genista aetnensis, the Mount Etna broom, is a species of flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is a large shrub or small tree endemic to Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily where it is associated with sunny, open landscapes and poor, stony soil. It is a very common constituent of the garigue plant communities, Mediterranean shrubby vegetation, around the lower slopes of Mount Etna, hence its Latin specific epithet aetnensis.

The young plant is typical of brooms, clothed in narrow linear leaves which soon drop off leaving almost bare branches. As it ages the shrub develops into a shapely small tree with a greenish bark, growing to 8 metres (26 ft) if given room to develop. The terminal branches have a tendency to droop and weep. Abundant pea-like, yellow, jasmine-scented flowers cover the whole crown in late summer.

Other Genista plants

Canary broom · Spanish Gorse · Mediterranean broom · Genista lydia · Winged Greenweed · Dyer's Greenweed · Broom

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Genista aetnensis 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.

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