Wild edible plants are an important piece of the cultural and genetic heritage of distinct world regions, representing high importance, predominantly in rural and suburban areas [1]. Furthermore, they are interesting sources of bioactive compounds and need recognition as considerable contributors to human health promotion and disease prevention [2].

Genista tridentata (L.) Willk. (the recognized name for this species), also known as Pterospartum tridentatum (L.) Willk. (the commonly used name in both scientific literature and commercially available extracts. Among other synonyms, Chamaespartum tridentatum (P.) Gibbs is also used ^[3][4][3,4]). Commonly known as “prickled broom”, it is a Leguminosae (Fabaceae) species belonging to the subfamily Papilionoideae ^[5][6][5,6]. In line with scientific literature and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility database [7], the recorded countries of origin for the plant remain consistent, comprising Portugal, Spain, and Morocco. However, it is important to mention that the Plants of the World Online (POWO) database [8] also lists Algeria and Tunisia as potential countries of origin for this plant. This shrub can be found in the understory of Arbutus unedo, Pinus, and Eucalyptus forests, as well as in abandoned lands. It grows spontaneously up to 100 cm in acidic soils [9] and presents yellow flowers with a typical odor in alternate branches and coriaceous winged stems [10]. Traditionally, it is harvested in the spring between March and June.

G. tridentata is an aromatic plant that is very important in Portuguese gastronomy. The leaves are conventionally used as a condiment/spice for the seasoning of traditional rice and meat dishes [11]. Moreover, fresh or shade-dried flowers of G. tridentata are also used in folk medicine, in infusions, decoctions, and tonics [12] as anti-inflammatory ^[13][14][15][13,14,15], diuretic and depurative of the liver ^{[5][11][16][17]}[5,11,16,17]. It is commonly used to ameliorate colds ^[5][18][5,18], in digestive disorders ^{[5][18][19][20]}[5,18,19,20], intestinal ^[21][22][21,22] and urologic problems ^{[5][11][15][16][18]}[5,11,15,16,18], and rheumatism ^[5][11][16][5,11,16]. Additionally, it is also used for respiratory disorders ^{[5][6][13][15][18][23]}[5,6,13,15,18,23], headaches [5], to lower blood pressure ^[5][6][18][5,6,18], against hypercholesterolemia ^{[5][6][18][20][22]}[5,6,18,20,22] and hyperglycemia ^{[5][6][11][16][17][18][23][24]}[5,6,11,16,17,18,23,24], and in weight loss programs [5].

2. Phytochemical Characterization

The main compounds found are flavonoids, as well as hydroxycinnamic acids and hydroxybenzoic acids (Table 1, Figure 12). Additionally, extracts collected in the flowering period (May), as well as flowers, presented a more diverse phytochemical profile than extracts collected during the rest of the year. Other compounds found in the literature include essential oils (EOs) (Table 2). Grosso et al. (2007) [11] studied the EOs isolated by hydrodistillation and distillation-extraction of flowers, stems and leaves, and aerial parts of different populations. Another study [29] also characterized EOs of G. tridentata using the same methodology. The results show that G. tridentata samples presented a yellowish oil with a yield of <0.05% (v/w). The dominant components of the oils were phenylpropanoids, more abundant in aerial parts, and oxygen-containing monoterpenes in the flowers, stems, and leaves. Additionally, Faria et al. (2013, 2016) ^[30][31][31,33] reported cis-theaspirane and trans-theaspirane as the main components.