[2] Retama broom bushes are found natively in North Africa, the Levant and some parts of southern Europe.

[7] Michel Adanson described and classified the genus referencing to the Greek plant "lygos" and to Pedanius Dioscorides.

[10] The same word (in some cases Latinized as Lygus) was used in botany and zoology for various taxonomic groups as a component of names, e.g. Lygodysodea, Lygisyum, Lygistum, Lygodesmia etc.

[11][12] Retama is traditionally placed in the tribe Genisteae, and in the subfamily Papilionoideae in the 2017 classification of the family Fabaceae (Leguminosae).

According to multiple Jewish biblical commentators, Retama is used in the Bible as a symbol of slander, as, when burnt, its embers will remain hot long after they turn black.