GENISTA, in botany, a genus of about 90 species of shrubs of the family Leguminosae, and natives of Europe, western Asia and north Africa; three are British. G. anglica is the needle-furze or petty whin, found on heaths and moist moors, a spinous plant with slender spreading branches 1 to 2 ft. long, very small leaves and short racemes of small yellow flowers. The pollen is emitted in a shower when an insect alights on it. G. tinctoria, dyer's green weed, the flowers of which yield a yellow dye, has no spines. It is a native of Europe and Asia and naturalized in the north-eastern United States. Other species are grown on rock-work or as greenhouse plants.