Plant · P-070

Spanish Broom

Spartium junceum

Spanish broom is a fast nitrogen-fixing shrub recommended by Texas Smartscape and Texas Tech's Woody Plant Finder for hot, dry, low-water banks and cuts, with a heavy bee-pollinated bloom through spring and summer. Every part is toxic to livestock - cytisine and sparteine cause permanent neurological damage in horses and cattle, and goats eat it readily - so it must stay out of any paddock, and mature stands carry enough dead wood to be a fire hazard if not cut back every few years.