42)+Scotch+Broom

=Scotch Broom= Standing here, looking at this plant, with its pretty yellow flowers, realizing it doesn't belong, you get an idea of how silly humanity is as a whole. Kinda makes you worry of where we're going in the next few years. It's one thing to admire and stu dy something because it's different. But bringing it somewhere it don't belong? We judge things too quickly. I refer to the Scotch Broom, or as them eggheads know it //Cytisus Scoparius.// Thanks to some suckers for sap, as I call them, the plant found its way out of its native range in Europe and onto our turf. Now North America, Australia, and them nieghbors gotta struggle with it. It's a member of Fababaceae, or the pea family as everyone knows. But this ain't no pretty pea. This is one of the toughest meanest, and overall most frigging annoying plants around. It don't require much sun or water and it breeds like bunnies. Heck, one pod alone can make over 20,000 seeds per year, outcompeting its neighbors and turning the area around into, well I don't want to go that far. Worse, you can't simply pull it out of the ground or burn the evil thing, cause as long as there's roots to grow from, it'll just keep coming back. It's tough, but there are ways. I won't go into detail about that, but here's the point. If you give a hoot about anything, maybe it's time you did a little research of your own on this phenomenon starting here. Don't be a sucker for sap, fight back!

//Cytisus scoparius//

Pea Family-Fabacea

Podcast goes here. Attach podcast script here

|| photo of leaves || || photo of reproductive part ||
 * Photo of whole plant
 * photo of bark

Classification:
Angiosperm, Dicot, Diecious

Family characteristics:
The Scotch Broom is a member of the notable Fabaceae/Pea Family, the third largest family of flowering plants. "Their flowers are irregular with 5 petals forming a distinctive banner, wings and keel. The banner is a single petal with two lobes passing through that look like they are intertwined. Two petals form the wings and the remaining pair make up the keel and tend to be fused together. Despite some insignificant differences between subfamilies, for the most part the stamens in this family are large, long and attractive."(Fabaceae: Wildflowers of the Pea Family) Another noticeable characteristic of this family are their pea-like pods from which they derive their name. The common fruit of this family is the legume, some well-known ones including peas, beans, and peanuts. "The members of this family are woody plants with with bacteria-filled roots. These bacteria can take in Nitrogen gas and convert it to another form which can in turn be used by the plants in a process called Nitrogen Fixation."(Wikipedia).

Identifying features:
"Scotch Broom is a tall woody shrub (6-10 feet in length) with abundant yellow flowers. Their leaves are parted with small rounded leaflets and form pods that are flattened with white hair on the margins. Their branches are erect, angled and green. In the winter, they are devoid of leaves but are still green."(Fabaceae: Wildflowers of the Pea Family)

Location/Habitat:
Scotch Broom is a native of western and central Europe. It tends to live at low-altitude areas with lots of sunlight and dry soil.

"However, at some point in history it was admired for its bright yellow flowers" (San Francisco state University: Biogeography of Scotch Broom) and thus has found its way into places outside its native range like North America, Canada and Oceania. It is a highly problematic invasive species due to its aggression and competition with other seedling plants in areas it grows in which tend to be recently undisturbed. This also creates problems in the view of fire ecology as the increase in plants creates more fuel for fire to burn off of.

Distribution In California: Distribution In the United States: (San Francisco State University: Biogeography of Scotch Broom)

**Reproduction**
"The plant spreads by producing seeds. One pod alone can produce 12,000 seeds per year. Scotch Broom becomes reproductive after about 2-3 years in its life. Flowers appear before leaves and after that seeds are constantly produced ( about 12,000/shrub). Seeds are dispersed with a pop and are further spread by animals, particularly ants. Seeds can survive at least 5 years in the soil and a seedbank can grow to over 2,000/sq ft.

Water/Sun Requirements:
"Scotch Broom is the toughest species of broom"(Wikipedia). It requires little water and little sun though it tends to live in drier areas.

Special Adaptations:
"It tends to prefer drier, hotter climates. However, it is the toughest species of broom capable of surviving in -25 degrees celsius. This is turn has made it such a bothersome invasive species."(United States Department of Agriculture)

>
 * As a weed it is extremely hard to get rid of. Cutting the top does nothing as the plant can simply regrow back from any roots left.
 * "Whereas many invasive plants rely on large amounts of water and wind, the Scotch Broom is more independent of such things."(Cal-IPC)
 * The Scotch broom was introduced as an ornament but then became used to control soil erosion
 * Some scientists believe that the seeds are poisonous to ungulates like cows and horses.

Evaluation of DaVinci Plant:
There is a lone Scotch Broom across the street from DaVinci Charter Academy in Davis, California. The broom is surrounded by a Cactus and a Western Rosebud each cut off from each other by concrete. It seems unable to do much to the nearby plants due to the concrete. The bark labeled above near the top belongs to this Scotch Broom.

Sources:
Created by: Marcel Safford
 * []**
 * []**
 * []**
 * []**
 * []**