Friday, April 27, 2012

Genista

Genista spartioides ssp. retamoides
Genista is a genus of legumes which includes many species of broom. Many of these brooms are notorious as noxious weeds. Many of the species have flowers that open explosively when alighted on by an insect, the style flying through the upper seam of the keel and striking the underside of the insect, followed by a shower of pollen that coats the insect. The Royal line of Plantagenet is derived from this genus, being a corruption of “planta genista”.

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