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Belonging to the Fabacea family, the white Spanish broom (Retama raetam) is a shrubby species that grows up to 3.2-6.5 ft in height. When it blooms, in March-April, it turns into a beautiful white cloud.
Its flowers, gathered in dense pendulous racemes, are followed by the fruits – ellipsoid pods.

This species is widespread in the Canary Islands, Spain, Morocco Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon, while in Italy there’s only its subspecies R. raetam subsp. gussonei; the latter used to be regarded as a unique endemism of eastern Sicily and, in particular, in the coastal strip between Licata and Gela. It actually can be found also in Calabria, in the province of Crotone (Sic IT9320100 “Dune di Marinella”), and along the Tyrrhenian coast, north of San Ferdinando (RC) and Nicotera.

It is very resistant to strong sunlight and drought, although it is currently threatened of extinction.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)