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'''Plantagenet''' is the name applied, in England, to the descendants of '''Geoffrey of [[Anjou]]''', father of [[King]] [[Henry II]] of [[England]], (1113-1151CE).  It derives from the flower of the broom (''planta genesta''), which Geoffrey adopted as an emblem.

From the Plantagenets of England (including the Houses of [[York]] and of [[Lancaster]] came the rulers, at different times, of [[Jerusalem]], [[England]], [[Normandy]], Gascony and Guyenne, although they lost Anjou itself, to the [[France|French]] crown in 1206.

The first to use the name as a surname was Richard Plantagenet, [[Duke]] of [[York]], father to [[Edward IV]] and [[Richard III]], adopting it apparentyl around 1448CE.

The family became extinct in the legitimate line during the 16th century.  Edward, [[Earl]] of Warwick, Edward and Richard's nephew, was executed in 1499 by [[Henry VII]], and Margaret, Countess of Salisbury, was executed in 1541 by [[Henry VIII]].