This is Broom growing on the shingle inland at Dungeness. It you read the information boards and websites relating to the area they'll tell you that the rare "prostrate broom" grows there. The reality is somewhat more complex. Broom is Cytisus scoparius ssp scoparius and prostrate broom is C. scoparius ssp maritimus. The latter is restricted to a few cliffs in the Channel Islands and south west England and Wales. The Dungeness population resembles it (phenotypically) but is on a quite different habitat. Stace states that the Dungeness population does not 'grow true' from seed in cultivation and other studies suggest it is different to the 'classical' subspecies maritimus.
Opinions on a postcard please!
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