Retama

Retama
White flowers of Retama rhodorhizoides
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Fabales
Family: Fabaceae
Subfamily: Faboideae
Clade: Core Genistoids
Tribe: Genisteae
Genus: Retama
Raf.
Species

4–14; see text.

Synonyms[1]
  • Boelia Webb (1853)
  • Lygos Adans. (1763), nom. rej.

Retama (also known as rotem, Hebrew: רותם) is a genus of flowering bushes in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the broom tribe, Genisteae.[2] Retama broom bushes are found natively in North Africa, the Levant and some parts of southern Europe. Retama raetam and Retama monosperma have white flowers, while Retama sphaerocarpa has yellow flowers. It remains an open question in taxonomy whether the members of the genus Retama should be incorporated into the genus Genista (see Genisteae).

The species contain cytisine, a toxic alkaloid.

In the Spanish language the name retama is commonly used for broom bushes in general, including the genus Retama.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference POWO_331900-2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cardoso D, Pennington RT, de Queiroz LP, Boatwright JS, Van Wyk BE, Wojciechowski MF, Lavin M (2013). "Reconstructing the deep-branching relationships of the papilionoid legumes". S Afr J Bot. 89: 58–75. doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2013.05.001. hdl:10566/3193.