This plant is native to the west of the Iberian Peninsula and northwestern Morocco.

The sparse leaves are made up of small leaflets about a centimeter long each.

The shrub bears yellow legume flowers and the pods are covered in white hairs.

This shrub is similar to its relative, Cytisus scoparius, but it can be distinguished by the paler shade of yellow of its flowers and by the hairy coat on its pods.

It was introduced to California in the 1960s as an erosion-controlling plant, but it 'escaped' and spread to become a major noxious weed, an invasive species colonizing in many habitats there.