Retama is a genus of flowering bushes in the legume family, Fabaceae

Fabaceae

The Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, is a large and economically important family of flowering plants. The group is the third largest land plant family, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with 730 genera and over 19,400 species...

. It belongs to the broom

Broom (shrub)

Brooms are a group of evergreen, semi-evergreen, and deciduous shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae, mainly in the three genera Chamaecytisus, Cytisus and Genista, but also in many other small genera . All genera in this group are from the tribe Genisteae...

 tribe, Genisteae. Retama broom bushes are found natively in North Africa, the Levant and some parts of southern Europe. The GRIN database

Germplasm Resources Information Network

Germplasm Resources Information Network or GRIN is an online software project of National Genetic Resources Program of USDA to provide germplasm information about plants, animals, microbes and invertebrates.-Sub-Projects:...

 lists three species: Retama raetam, Retama monosperma, and Retama sphaerocarpa. The first two of those have white flowers, while the third has yellow flowers. It remains an open question in taxonomy whether the members of the Retama genus should be incorporated into the Genista

Genista

Genista is a genus of legumes which includes many species of broom. Many of these brooms are notorious as noxious weeds.Species include:*Genista aetnensis - Mount Etna broom*Genista anglica - petty whin, needle furze*Genista canariensis...

 genus; see Genisteae.

In the Spanish language the name "retama" is in common use for broom bushes in general, including but not limited to the genus Retama.