#Cytisus scoparius

[huariqueje]

Broom and Lurcher - Brita Granstrom , 2024

Swedish, b.1969 -

Mixed media on canvas  ,   45 x 35 cm.

[nagaino]

[ifelten]

Silkeglinsende jordsmælder (Prosternon tessellatum)

På gyvel (Cytisus scoparius)

Chequered Click Beetle (Prosternon tessellatum)

On Broom (Cytisus scoparius)

[thebotanicalarcade]

n256_w1150 by Biodiversity Heritage Library Via Flickr: Trees and shrubs of the British Isles; LondonDent1909 biodiversitylibrary.org/page/21489280

[flowerishness]

Genista pilosa (creeping broom)

Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) is an invasive species in my part of the world and can easily grow two meters tall (6ft) but this little creeping broom is a much smaller member of the genus Genista and rarely exceeds 30cm (12 inches). Here some creative gardener has planted one as an attractive groundcover between the sidewalk and a busy street. Broom plants in general are as tough as nails and I think this location really uses the natural talents of this species very effectively.

[libraryofmoths]

Moth of the Week

Peppered Moth

Biston betularia

The peppered moth is a part of the family geometridae. It was first described in 1758 by Charles Linnaeus. This moth gains its name from its speckled coloration, which has been studied as an example of natural selection and population evolution.

Description This species has a short body with narrow forewings. The body and wings are the same white base peppered with black dots and irregular black lines. This speckled pattern may vary with some moths having very few spots and others having so many that they look as if they are black with white spots as opposed to white with black. In rare cases, the black on the wings and body is replaced with gray or brown and in even rarer cases the spots are a combination of brown and black/gray. These spots help the moth camouflage against lichen on trees.

The evolution of this moth had been studied extensively during the last two hundred years, which created the term “industrial melanism.” During the Industrial Revolution, air pollution killed off lichen and covered trees in soot. This caused moths with a black spots on white base (typica) coloration to lose their camouflage and die off due to predators. This caused a spike in population for moths with a darker coloration (carbonaria) because they had the camouflage advantage. Once environmental conditions improved, the lighter colored moths once again became the dominant coloration.

The male’s antennae are bipectinate, meaning it has two rows of rami going down either side of a singular flagellum.

Wingspan Range: 45 - 62 mm (≈1.77 - 2.44 in)

Diet and Habitat The caterpillar of this moth eats many trees, shrubs, and small plants such as Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa), Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), Downy (Betula pubescens) and Silver Birch (Betula pendula), limes, sallows, poplars, oaks, Sweet Chestnut (Castanae sativa), Beech (Fagus sylvatica), Bramble (Rubus fruiticosus), Broom (Cytisus scoparius), Black Currant (Ribes nigrum) and Hop (Humulus lupulus).

They have a wide range, being found in China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia, Beijing, Hebei, Shanxi, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Fujian, Sichuan, Yunnan, Tibet), Russia, Mongolia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Europe and North America. They prefer habitats of woodland, scrub, hedgerows, parks and gardens.

Mating Depending on its location, this moth can have one or two generations per year. In Great Britain and Ireland, the peppered moth has one generation per year, whilst in south-eastern North America it has two generations per year. They emerge from the pupea in late May to August.

The females attract males with pheromones, which are carried by the wind. Males follow the concentration gradient to find the female. The male guards the female from other males until she lays the eggs. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor.

Predators This species is a night-flying moth, making the vulnerable to bats. The males in particular fly every night to search for a female while females fly only the first night.

To protect themselves from birds during the day, this species rests on lichen covered trees to camouflage themselves.

The day time resting positions of this moth have been recorded and studied. This study shows that the peppered moth prefers resting spots that are covered such as below where the trunk and a branch meet, the underside of branches, and leafy twigs.

Additionally, the study found peppered moths with a lighter coloration (typica) blend in better against crustose lichens rather than foliose lichens because birds can see ultraviolet light. The peppered moth reflects UV light while crustose lichens don’t, making them easier to pick out.

Fun Fact The caterpillars of the peppered moth resemble things in both color and size. An experiment published in 2019 done on the caterpillars of the peppered moth showed that the larva (even when blindfolded) could sense the color of the tree they live on and change their body color to match and/or would move to a different twig that was closest in color to their own body.

(Source: Wikipedia, Butterfly Conservation, Max Planck Institute)

[nncastle]

Sister Rosie Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) is thrilling us with its abundant and heady displays of blooms. We can't even see the branches. It's so full of flowers! This plant struggled and got eaten by deer for a few years, now it's the star of the show. I love the rather sensual shapes of these blossoms. Stunning. And surprising.

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Ozarks Habitat Restoration: Privet, Honeysuckle, and One Rogue Hoe

Originally posted on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/ozarks-habitat-restoration-privet-honeysuckle-and-one-rogue-hoe/

I wasn’t always a Northwest kinda person. I originally grew up in the Missouri Ozarks, mostly in Rolla, surrounded by farmland swiftly being chewed up into yet another subdivision. But there were patches of woods and fields left for me to explore. Often it was disturbed land being taken over by eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana) and a host of invasive species. But further away from home I saw remnants of vast white oak forests and savannas.

Being rather sheltered in a not-outdoorsy family, and not having much in the way of friends, I didn’t have much opportunity to explore the local ecology in person. So I have this odd mishmash of Things I Know about where I grew up, and a whole bunch of Things I Don’t Know, too. Now that I’m coming back to visit this place periodically with more knowledge and skills, I’m taking the time to fill in the blanks as quickly as I can.

One of the ways I’ve been able to reconnect with this place is by volunteering with the Ozark Rivers Audubon Chapter whenever I’m in town. They have a beautiful 70-acre nature center on the northwest end of town, and in spite of its size it features five distinct habitat types–oak savanna, upland oak/hickory forest with some shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), a dolomite glade, tallgrass prairie, and a lovely little spring-fed stream with riparian habitat on either side. A trail system allows visitors to explore this wonderful array of habitats.

When the weather is good, you can find volunteers out working on habitat restoration and other projects around the center. This includes significant numbers of students from the Missouri University of Science and Technology (which was the University of Missouri-Rolla back when I was working on my Bachelor’s degree there–one of maybe fifty English majors at a STEM-focused campus!) The coordinators are always open to drop-in volunteers, so if you find yourself in the area, check the bulletin board on site for information about upcoming volunteer events, or check their Facebook page.

Earlier this month I was in town, and dropped in for a volunteer event. It was a potpourri of maintenance and upkeep efforts, with volunteers adding wood chips to trails and clearing blockages from drainage systems, among other tasks. I ended up being directed to wage war on some of the invasive plants plaguing the riparian area near the picnic shelter. In addition to a Pullerbear–which, along with the very similar Extractigator, is one of my main tools at home for yanking up Scotch broom  (Cytisus scoparius)–I was given a new toy to play with.

Rogue Hoe isn’t just inspiration for a great band name. It’s also become my new favorite thing for invasive species removal. Specifically, I got to use their hoe/pick combo, with a 48″ ash handle. Now, it may just look like an undersized mattock, but let me tell you–this thing is far superior. It’s much lighter, weighing in at about three pounds. And the shorter, more slender head is a lot easier to manipulate into tiny areas where you might have an invasive plant growing right next to a native one you want to keep, or right underneath the root system of a big ol’ plant you want to get rid of. If you need to dig out a bigger plant and the extractor isn’t budging it, or you have a slender plant that you worry may break if you pull it, you can use the Rogue Hoe to loosen the soil around the roots.

Oh, one more cool thing about it–Rogue Hoe makes their tools out of recycled agricultural disc blades! Can’t go wrong with sturdy and green.

So with the Rogue Hoe and Pullerbear in hand, I set about seeing how deeply into the riparian zone I could get myself, systematically yanking invasive plants as I went. The most numerous was some sort of privet (Ligustrum sp.) But unsurprisingly I found not one but two species of invasive honeysuckle, bush (Lonicera tatarica) and Japanese (Lonicera japonica).

Because spring growth is just getting ramped up, there were tons of little bitty new plants, plus some one to two year olds. These were easily dealt with with the Rogue Hoe–chuck the wider end of the blade underneath the roots like you would with a mattock or hoe, then pull the entire plant up–often bringing other invasives like non-native grasses along for the ride. Bigger plants got the Pullerbear, with a slow but steady pressure that levered them right out of the soil. Over a period of a little under two hours, I managed to make a respectable pile of weeds.

And I made it all the way to the little stream! I wasn’t able to completely clear a section of the bank, but I flagged a few larger privet and bush honeysuckle that were just too much for me to take on myself. While I was grubbing around in the underbrush looking for new privet growth, I managed to find a few nice little gooseberries, probably Ribes missouriense, along with some common blue violets (Viola sororia) just popping up. Standing back from the area I’d cleared, I could definitely tell there was a difference.

The first of several Missouri gooseberry plants I found amid the invasive plants I removed.

I wrapped up the day by getting an impromptu tour of some of the native wildflowers in bloom with the manager of the nature center. It was a great chance to fill in some of those holes in my knowledge of Ozarks native flora, and nice to have a little time there that wasn’t spent working.

The afternoon went by all too quickly: I really do have fun with invasive plant removal, even more than getting native plants in the ground. But it also made me a bit homesick for Washington, and Willapa NWR, and all the work that still needs doing there. It’s okay, though. No matter where I go, there will always be someplace that can use my help, and people working toward a better world who welcome another pair of hands.

Before (left) and after (right), click for a larger version. I forgot to take a before picture of the exact location cleared, so the “before” is right next to it. But you get the idea.

Did you enjoy this post? Consider taking one of my online foraging and natural history classes or hiring me for a guided nature tour, checking out my other articles, or picking up a paperback or ebook I’ve written! You can even buy me a coffee here!

[francescointoppa]

C – Cytisus scoparius (L.) Link – Ginestra dei carbonai (Fabaceae)

[grimreapy777]

Cytisus scoparius (the yellow one)

Ornithogalum umbellatum (the white one)

Geranium molle (?) (the purple one)

Correct me if I am wrong. Would be very important.

[heather-rajendran]

Common broom (Cytisus scoparius) photos I took today, Huddersfield, UK

[coffeenuts]

Cytisus scoparius Lena by maartenappel https://flic.kr/p/2njDyM3

[drhoz]

#2243 - Cytisus scoparius - English Broom

AKA various Sarothamnus sp., Spartium scoparium, common broom or Scotch broom.

A deciduous legume native to western and central Europe, highly invasive everywhere else. One estimate blames it for US$47 million in lost timber production each year in Oregon state, alone, since it's the first plant to recolonise after fires and crowds out tree seedlings. In Aotearoa it's estimated to cost the forestry industry NZ$90 million, and to cost farmers an additional NZ$10 million in losses.

Possible biological control for broom has been investigated since the mid-1980s, including the broom twig miner (Leucoptera spartifoliella), broom seed beetles (Bruchidius villosus), broom gall mites (Aceria genistae), sap-sucking broom psyllids (Arytainilla spartiophila), the Scotch broom seed weevil (Exapion fuscirostre) and most recently, the broom leaf beetle (Gonioctena olivacea) and broom shoot moths (Agonopterix assimilella).

The name of English royal House of Plantagenet, rulers of England in the Middle Ages, may have been derived from this plant, which was known as planta genista in Latin. They certainly used it in their heraldry.

Huka Falls, Taupo Volcanic Zone, New Zealand.

[ifelten]

Almindelig Bladmåler (Epirrhoe alternata)

På gyvel (Cytisus scoparius).

Common Carpet (Epirrhoe alternata)

On Common Broom (Cytisus scoparius)

[jannekebooister]

Brem / common Broom (Cytisus scoparius) by Janneke Booister Via Flickr: Watercolour on Arches Grain Fin 300 g/m2. 

Colours used are Winsor Yellow, Indian Yellow, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue, Perylene Green; all Winsor&Newton Professional. 

For a challenge 

Reference by my husband Peter 

Paper size 21 x 30 cm (A4), available (Contact me) 

Het verhaal van deze aquarel is beschreven in mijn blog / The story of this watercolour is written in my blog jannekesatelier.blogspot.com/

[flowerishness]

Spartium junceum (Spanish broom)

Spanish broom is very similar to Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) but it's taller. Spanish broom's invasive relative Scotch broom is all over the place in Vancouver but, so far, Spanish broom has only become 'naturalized' in California and Oregon. Both plants are European in origin but Scotch broom is also native to the British Isles and seems to be more tolerant of Vancouver's colder, wetter climate.

Spanish broom is grown as a garden ornamental and has actually been granted the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. This magnificent specimen has climbed into an unfortunate cherry tree to gain more sunlight. The trunk in the last photo actually belongs to the tree and I'm not sure it really appreciates its rather overwhelming companion.