About Calicotome villosa (Poir.) Link
This species, Calicotome villosa (Poir.) Link, grows as a shrubby tree reaching 1–2 meters in height, and it is very spiny. Its twigs are striate and covered in villous hairs. Its leaves are digitate, each with three leaflets, and grow in clusters along the branchlets. Flowers are positioned among the middle leaves on the branchlets. The calyx is campanulate, covered in fine puberulent hairs, and has almost entire margins. The corolla measures 10–12 mm long and is bright yellow; the standard petal is broad and longer than the other corolla parts. The pod is covered in dense villous hairs. This plant flowers from January to April. It grows in rocky hillsides and bushy habitats, and occurs across the Mediterranean region, from Portugal and Morocco east to the Levant.
