Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Genista hispanica; photograph (c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-06-24

Genista hispanica L.

Spanish gorse; Spanish broom

Fabaceae · France, Spain

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Genista hispanica, photograph (c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY)Genista hispanica, photograph (c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY)Genista hispanica, photograph (c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY)Genista hispanica, photograph (c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY)Genista hispanica, photograph (c) Barry Stewart, some rights reserved (CC BY)Genista hispanica, photograph (c) Barry Stewart, some rights reserved (CC BY) 64 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-4.6°C
Record low -13.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jul and Aug at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
926mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
10–44DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet winters: the rain comes September to January and April to May, with nights below freezing; no growing season read. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Genista hispanica, the Spanish gorse, or anlaga, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to southern France and northern Spain. It is a dense, low, cushion-like deciduous shrub growing to 0.7 metres high, with very spiny shoots. The flowers are bright yellow, in terminal clusters on the outside surface of the shrub; the flowers are typical peaflower structure, with 8–11 mm standard and wing petals.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Genista hispanica", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Genista

Genista is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae, native to open habitats such as moorland and pasture in Europe and western Asia. They include species commonly called broom, though the term may also refer to other genera, including Cytisus and Chamaecytisus. Brooms in other genera are sometimes considered synonymous with Genista: Echinospartum, Retama, Spartium, Stauracanthus, and Ulex.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Genista", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season and no growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (664 mm of 938 mm) falls in September to January and April to May, the cooler part of the year, but the mean nightly low is below freezing in February, so the rule reads no growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to November.

Rain

938 mm in the median year at the habitat, 664 mm of it September to January and April to May. Wettest month October at 110 mm, driest month July at 41 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 636 mm to 1,501 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 926 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 938 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 10 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 8, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -4.6 °C, the absolute minimum -13.9 °C, 2,091 frost nights in 44 years, 47.5 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low -0.2 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -3.6 °C to 3.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.9 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -4.6 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +290 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Genista hispanica through the yearWarmest months July and August, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low -0.2 °C; 938 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost30.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-13.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 10–44RH 57–62%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 997 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C8 / 4–109 / 5–1112 / 9–1414 / 11–1718 / 14–2122 / 18–2625 / 21–2925 / 21–2821 / 18–2417 / 14–1911 / 8–148 / 5–11
Night °C0 / -4–30 / -3–42 / -1–64 / 1–88 / 5–1112 / 9–1514 / 11–1814 / 11–1812 / 8–158 / 5–124 / 0–71 / -2–4
Rain mm79 / 45–15658 / 37–12660 / 39–12692 / 64–14989 / 61–13061 / 39–8941 / 18–6954 / 33–8488 / 54–123110 / 75–161108 / 63–18198 / 54–176
DLI12 / 10–1418 / 16–2027 / 24–2933 / 30–3638 / 35–4142 / 38–4644 / 38–4638 / 33–4029 / 27–3119 / 17–2213 / 11–1510 / 8–12
RH %61 / 57–6660 / 57–6459 / 56–6259 / 56–6359 / 56–6358 / 54–6457 / 52–6458 / 54–6459 / 57–6361 / 59–6462 / 59–6662 / 58–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 997 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1274 records in those cells; 3 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 944:3555 (42.775, -2.225). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -13.9 °C, 1st-percentile night -4.6 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 997 distinct grid cells holding 1274 of the 1277 in-range records (3 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 944:3555 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.00_-2.500, lapse-corrected +290 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 820 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFrance, Spain · introduced: Great Britain · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker43.808, 5.796 · in the densest population, 678 records (51% of those in range)
Kew's description“subshrub or shrub” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1325 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1274 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1277 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 803 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 6 km away. 13 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 48 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1325 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Genista hispanica, photograph 1did not loadGenista hispanica, photograph 2did not loadGenista hispanica, photograph 3did not loadGenista hispanica, photograph 4did not loadGenista hispanica, photograph 5did not loadGenista hispanica, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Denys Vynokurov, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Barry Stewart, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Leucanthemum pallens Leucanthemum pallens Asteraceae Photo: CC BY, Noé Fleury Frouart Valeriana lecoqii Caprifoliaceae Koeleria vallesiana Koeleria vallesiana Somerset hair-grass Photo: CC BY, Christoph MoningSatureja montana Satureja montana Winter savory Photo: CC BY, mycorocoGenista pulchella Genista pulchella Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Augustin SoulardCatananche caerulea Catananche caerulea Blue cupidone Photo: CC BY, Marc Riera

Other Genista 35 in the reference

Genista acanthoclada Genista acanthoclada Thorny Broom Photo: CC0, author not statedGenista albida Genista albida White Genista Photo: CC BY, RomanGenista anglica Genista anglica Petty whin Photo: CC0, author not statedGenista canariensis Genista canariensis Canary broom Photo: CC BY, Elizabete MarchanteGenista carinalis Genista carinalis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Krzysztof Ziarnek, KenraizGenista cinerea Genista cinerea Ash-coloured Broom Photo: CC BY, Louis AuregliaGenista depressa Genista depressa Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, Југ Genista dorycnifolia Fabaceae Genista etnensis Genista etnensis Fabaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, H. ZellGenista falcata Genista falcata Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Diego Rodríguez HernándezGenista florida Genista florida Floriferous Greenweed Photo: CC BY, Carminda SantosGenista germanica Genista germanica Fabaceae Photo: CC BY, Николай Соболев all 36 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cytisus hispanicus; Lissera hispanica; Listera hispanica; Spartium hispanicum; Telinaria hispanica and 2 more. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Fabaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
France, Spain
Wild records
1325 in range · 803 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 13 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (8 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 3 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 43.00_-2.500, lapse-corrected +290 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 106 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…