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| CC image by Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz |
It belongs to the Leguminosae family and has symbiotic nitrogen-fixing bacteria (useful in the barren soils of the caldera).
It's a shrubby plant with tiny (allegedly) sticky leaves in groups of three. The highly in-curled small leaves help reduce moisture loss. They grow close to the tough stems, which give the plant a rather unusual appearance. This is worth closer investigation with your hand lens :)
The evergreen foliage allows photosynthesis year-round - like many of the species here, it's perennial, and the plants you see are probably really old. This plant's strategy is to get established in the harsh environment and hang in for the long term.
The large yellow flowers (sadly lacking during our wintery visit) attract pollinating insects from far away..
When the large seed pods mature, they explode to disperse the seeds widely.
Some glandular-leaved alpines are suspected of carnivory - could this be acting similarly for some extra nutrients? Or is its stickyness just to deter tiny herbivorous insects?
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