Aspalathus linearis, meaning "red bush", is a broom-like member of the plant family Fabaceae that grows in South Africa's fynbos.

We have related plants here and I am curious…. tho They are cousins not siblings so to speak, and I don’t just taste things I’m not sure of that belong to the pea family because it’s a mixed bag whether fabaceae (pea family plants) are safe to eat.

Both rooibos and scotch broom are in the pea family; they also share their bushy broom habit with ephedra species, which are in a different plant taxonomy galaxy altogether - they are gymnosperms like conifers!

The former two plants also look similar to forsythia, which is a bushy yellow-flowering shrub in the olive family.

(Gymnosperms do not produce fruit around their seeds. So, Ephedra does not have those fine yellow flowers, tho it is quite striking in appearance.

—> angiosperms, which make fruit around their seeds, include most of the plants we know! including trees and grasses. Yay plants that we eat!)

Plants are so cool.