Retama raetam

Retama raetam is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to northern Africa from the Western Sahara to Sudan, Sicily, the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia, and widely naturalized elsewhere. The species was first described in 1775 by Peter Forsskål as Genista raetam. The epithet was derived from the Arabic name which Forsskål transcribed as 'rætæm behâm'. The species was transferred to Retama by Philip Barker-Webb and Sabin Berthelot in part of a publication that has been dated to 1842. The species that occurs in the Canary Islands is now considered to be Retama rhodorhizoides, rather than R. raetam, although the latter name has been used for Canary Island plants.