40 



CYTISUS Weldenii. 

 Dalmatian Laburnum. 



DIADELPHIA DECANDRIA. 

 Nat. Ord. JjEGUMINOS^E, § PAPILIONACEiE. 



CYTISUS. L. 



C. Weldenii; fruticosus erectus, foliis ternatis petiolatis, foliolis ellipticis 

 integris basi cuneatis apice obtusis retusisve glabris, racemis termina- 

 libus pedunculatis pyramidatis strictis, pedicellis cano-villosis, calycibus 

 campanulatis trilobis : lobis tomentoso-ciliatis obtusis, corollis glabns, 

 carina villoso-sericea, leguminibus glabris stylo mucronatis. Walpers 

 Repertorium Botanices Systematica, vol. 1 . p. 633. 



C. Weldenii. Host. Flora Justriaca, 2. 339. Bot. Beg. 1839. misc. no. 122. 

 Loudon Arb. Brit. p. 218. t. 343. 



How different this species is from the Scotch Laburnum 

 will be now apparent from the accompanying figure taken 

 from a plant which flowered this spring in the garden of the 

 Earl of Ilchester, in Dorsetshire. It is obviously distinguished 

 by its flowers growing in short erect racemes and not in long 

 drooping ones. 



Although from its similarity in foliage to the Laburnum, 

 it is liable to be confounded with that plant, yet it is in tact 

 nearer Cytisus sessilifolius, of which it may be almost regarded 

 as a gigantic form. To what size it will grow is unknown ; 

 probably eight or ten feet high ; but on its Dalmatian moun- 

 tains it is said to be a bush. 



The poisonous quality of the common Laburnum is still 

 more concentrated in this species, as we are told by the mer- 

 man botanists. The General Baron Welden, after whom it 

 is named, assures us that its very flowers produce headache, 

 and that the goats which feed on it produce poisonous milk. 

 [But how is it then that the goats themselves do not die ."J 



Augmt, 1843. R 



