Broom

Common Name

Broom, Whin

Latin Name

Cytisus scoparius

Status

Native.

Distribution

Common on the coal measures of the West Durham Coalfield and Wear Lowlands, sparse elsewhere. Absent above 300m AOD.

Habitats

Heath, railway banks, road verges, waste ground, river banks.

Requirements

Free draining acidic soils. Light demanding.

Recommendations

An attractive flowering evergreen shrub, fast growing but short lived. Suitable as a woodland fringe and scrub species on free draining, infertile and acidic soils. Will colonise suitable sites naturally if local seed sources are available.

Origins/Provenance

The existing population is predominantly wild although occasionally planted as a landscaping shrub. Use plants of local provenance or FC seed zones 302 and 204.