Yellow Flowers on the way to O Cebreiro

[CSmith]

Can anyone tell me what the yellow flowers are on the road to O Cebreiro? I would post a picture but can't figure out how.

 

[KinkyOne]

Can anyone tell me what the yellow flowers are on the road to O Cebreiro? I would post a picture but can't figure out how.

There are three buttons at bottom right corner of the post box. Hit the middle one (Upload a file).

 

[CSmith]

There are three buttons at bottom right corner of the post box. Hit the middle one (Upload a file).

Thank you.

 

[MinaKamina]

From a distance, and given its abundance, this looks like Common Broom, Spanish Broom in this case, aka retama negra.

 

[KinkyOne]

From a distance, and given its abundance, this looks like Common Broom, Spanish Broom in this case, aka retama negra.

Yes, almost sure that's it. Very common on hillier parts of Frances. Also at Alto del Perdon, Foncebaddon etc.

 

[Bradypus]

Looks like broom to me too! Sometimes confused with gorse which looks quite similar at a distance. Easy way to tell them apart is that when you fall into a gorse bush or grab a handful of it you find hundreds of sharp spikes

 

[Deleted member 3000]

Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green stems and very small leaves and is adapted to dry growing conditions. However it differs in its extreme thorniness, the shoots being modified into branched thorns 1–4 centimetres (0.4–1.6 in) long, which almost wholly replace the leaves as the plant's functioning photosynthetic organs.

 

[Tincatinker]

My grandmother always told me that "Kissing is in season when Gorse is in flower." Some may have noticed that Gorse will flower throughout the year: a lucky break for those of us that enjoy the occasional kiss. Broom on the other hand has only a brief flowering season, though that will vary by location and altitude, from your photograph it appears that you have hit 'peak broom' in Galicia.

 

[formerly multipurpose]

We have what one of my hiking buddies Dan calls Scottish Broom around here in the foothills (below 4000 feet) in Northern California. It looks similar to the link that Falcon269 provided. Dan gets incensed every time he sees one and pulls it out immediately grumbling something about non-native ugly introduced harmful species from Europe. Strangely enough he is of Scottish heritage. Personally I think they are attractive plants.

 

[Pelegrin]

In Galician language broom is xesta.
Xesta gives name to an abundant tonomy in Galicia:
Xestoso, Xestal A Xesta, Xesteira.
Gorse is toxo.
Less toponomy but you also can find Toxeira and Toxiño

 

[Carlos Santiago]

It appears to be called "broom" everywhere. Is it because it is (was) used as such?
You must forgive me. I am not familiar with this plant; but I am interested in origins of names (and words too).

 

[Mike Savage]

We have what one of my hiking buddies Dan calls Scottish Broom around here in the foothills (below 4000 feet) in Northern California. It looks similar to the link that Falcon269 provided. Dan gets incensed every time he sees one and pulls it out immediately grumbling something about non-native ugly introduced harmful species from Europe. Strangely enough he is of Scottish heritage. Personally I think they are attractive plants.

Yes there is a lot of Scotch Broom along the American River in Sacramento area too. (I lived in Carmichael/Fair Oaks area for 20+ years and studied horticulture at American River College.)

 

[Icacos]

We have what one of my hiking buddies Dan calls Scottish Broom around here in the foothills (below 4000 feet) in Northern California. It looks similar to the link that Falcon269 provided. Dan gets incensed every time he sees one and pulls it out immediately grumbling something about non-native ugly introduced harmful species from Europe. Strangely enough he is of Scottish heritage. Personally I think they are attractive plants.

I think your buddy Dan is right.
http://www.broombusters.org/
http://www.shim.bc.ca/invasivespecies/_private/Scotchbroom.htm

 

[Bradypus]

It appears to be called "broom" everywhere. Is it because it is (was) used as such?

According to Wikipedia the tool appears to have been named after the plant and not the other way around.

"Old English bróm is from a common West Germanic *bráma- (Old High German brâmo, "bramble"), from a Germanic stem bræ̂m- of unknown origin, with an original sense of "thorny shrub" or similar. Use of the branches of these plants for sweeping gave rise to the term broom for sweeping tools in the 15th century, gradually replacing Old English besema (which survives as dialectal or archaic besom)."

 

[Purky]

Old English besema (which survives as dialectal or archaic besom)

A broom in Dutch is called 'bezem'. Old English and Dutch have a lot of words in common. So no surprise that the plant broom is called 'brem' in Dutch (compare Old English bróm).

 

[Carlos Santiago]

According to Wikipedia the tool appears to have been named after the plant and not the other way around.

Wow! It is not often that the original name of the material used was retained instead of the function; and a common household tool too. Thanks much Bradypus.

Now I'm wondering if there used to be special brambles used by the likes of Harry Potter, or was it the stick stuck in the bramble that gave it power? Oops, forget it; OT.

 

[MinaKamina]

It appears to be called "broom" everywhere. Is it because it is (was) used as such?
You must forgive me. I am not familiar with this plant; but I am interested in origins of names (and words too).

In Spanish it is called retama, and according to Wikipedia, the origin ratamá is Andalusian Arabic.

 

[Harington]

Thank you.

Broom. The planta genista - from which our Plantagenets got their name.

 

[SeaHorse]

Broom. The planta genista - from which our Plantagenets got their name.

Yes, I also was about to mention king Richard the Lionheart.