In Bolivia and Peru, the plant is known as retama, (not to be confused with the genus Retama) and has become very well established in some areas. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. The plant is used as an ornamental plant in gardens and in landscape plantings. It was first introduced to California as an ornamental plant. Spartium junceum has been widely introduced into other areas, and is regarded as a noxious invasive species in places with a Mediterranean climate such as California and Oregon, Hawaii, central Chile, southeastern Australia, the Western Cape in South Africa and the Canary Islands and Azores. This species is native to the Mediterranean in southern Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa, where it is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils. The Latin specific epithet junceum means "rush-like", referring to the shoots, which show a passing resemblance to those of the rush genus Juncus. The Greek name Spartium given to the genus denotes the use of the plant for ' cordage'. They burst open, often with an audible crack, spreading seed from the parent plant. In late summer, the legumes ( seed pods) mature black and reach 8–10 cm (3–4 in) long. In late spring and summer shoots are covered in profuse fragrant yellow pea-like flowers 1 to 2 cm across. The leaves are of little importance to the plant, with much of the photosynthesis occurring in the green shoots (a water-conserving strategy in its dry climate). It has thick, somewhat succulent grey-green rush-like shoots with very sparse small deciduous leaves 1 to 3 cm ( 1⁄ 2 to 1 + 1⁄ 4 in) long and up to 4 millimetres ( 1⁄ 8 in) broad. Spartium junceum is a vigorous, deciduous shrub growing to 2–4 metres (7–13 feet) tall, rarely 5 m (16 ft), with main stems up to 5 centimetres (2 inches) thick, rarely 10 cm (4 in). It is closely related to the other brooms (in the genera Cytisus and Genista). Spartium junceum, known as Spanish broom, rush broom, or weaver's broom, it is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and the sole species in the genus Spartium.
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