My neighbor has a couple of larger yellow-flowering bushes growing in a
clump with azaleas but he doesn't know what type it is. At first sight my
mind said "gorse" (probably because I had just come back from the hiking in
the Highlands) but it certainly isn't that as a close look reveals. The
overall plant is about two meters high and equally wide with well-formed
brilliant yellow flowers on drooping thin stems. Blooms in the east-central
US seems to be late April through May. The terminal stems seem to be square
in cross section which seems odd enough. Leaves are tiny and arranged in
threes (or maybe it is a compound leaf -- it was raining so I didn't hang
around with a magnifying glass). I don't recall seeing this plant anywhere
else in the vicinity. I snapped a couple of pictures which give a pretty
decent feel for what the plant is like. Any help would be appreciated.

http://johnmcgaw.com/image/Yellow%20...%20Overall.jpg
http://johnmcgaw.com/image/Yellow%20...-%20Detail.jpg

On 5/9/2014 2:47 PM, John McGaw wrote:
My neighbor has a couple of larger yellow-flowering bushes growing in a
clump with azaleas but he doesn't know what type it is. At first sight my
mind said "gorse" (probably because I had just come back from the hiking in
the Highlands) but it certainly isn't that as a close look reveals. The
overall plant is about two meters high and equally wide with well-formed
brilliant yellow flowers on drooping thin stems. Blooms in the east-central
US seems to be late April through May. The terminal stems seem to be square
in cross section which seems odd enough. Leaves are tiny and arranged in
threes (or maybe it is a compound leaf -- it was raining so I didn't hang
around with a magnifying glass). I don't recall seeing this plant anywhere
else in the vicinity. I snapped a couple of pictures which give a pretty
decent feel for what the plant is like. Any help would be appreciated.

http://johnmcgaw.com/image/Yellow%20...%20Overall.jpg
http://johnmcgaw.com/image/Yellow%20...-%20Detail.jpg


The flowers resemble broom.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean, see
http://www.rossde.com/garden/climate.html
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary

On 5/9/2014 6:09 PM, David E. Ross wrote:
On 5/9/2014 2:47 PM, John McGaw wrote:
My neighbor has a couple of larger yellow-flowering bushes growing in a
clump with azaleas but he doesn't know what type it is. At first sight my
mind said "gorse" (probably because I had just come back from the hiking in
the Highlands) but it certainly isn't that as a close look reveals. The
overall plant is about two meters high and equally wide with well-formed
brilliant yellow flowers on drooping thin stems. Blooms in the east-central
US seems to be late April through May. The terminal stems seem to be square
in cross section which seems odd enough. Leaves are tiny and arranged in
threes (or maybe it is a compound leaf -- it was raining so I didn't hang
around with a magnifying glass). I don't recall seeing this plant anywhere
else in the vicinity. I snapped a couple of pictures which give a pretty
decent feel for what the plant is like. Any help would be appreciated.

http://johnmcgaw.com/image/Yellow%20...%20Overall.jpg
http://johnmcgaw.com/image/Yellow%20...-%20Detail.jpg


The flowers resemble broom.


After looking at a bunch of illustrations online I'd say that you got it in
one. The best match I can find is to an illustration from "Kohler's
Medicinal Plants" from 1887 of Cytisus scoparius or Scotch Broom. The
foliage in many online photographs of the plant don't seem to match
perfectly but it appears that the foliage on different parts are somewhat
variable. It also looks like the plant is considered an invasive (if
pretty) weed in many places so I think that I will avoid the urge to
propagate any cuttings from my neighbor's plants. I have enough
uncontrollable weeds already, what with the English Ivy and Euonymus
fortunii and Vinca and Virginia Creeper fighting it out over most of an acre.

Thanks.