Tab. 7618. 



CYTISUS puegaks, Boiss. 

 Native of Centr. and S. France and N. Spain. 



Nat. Ord. Leguminos^. — Tribe GenistEjE. 

 Genus Cytisus, Linn. ; (Benth. & Hook./. Gen. Plant, vol. i. p. 484.) 



Cytisus (Spartocytisus^wrvjaMS ; frutex erectus, ramosissimus, mox aphyllus, 

 ramis ramulisque sub-ereetis teretibus viridibus, foliis sparsis parvis 

 sessilibus ramulis brevissimis insertis 1-3-foliolatis, foliolis linearibus v. 

 lineari-oblongis obtusis sub-sericeis basi angustatis, floribus solitariis 

 binisve ad nodos Buperiores pedicellatis, basi foliis nrinutis unifoliolatia 

 insti-uctis, calyce parvo campanulato bilabiato puberulu, basi minute 

 bibracteolato, labiis obtusis, vexillo orbicular! emarginato margimbus 

 incurvis basi cordata auriculis inflexis, alia obovato-oblongis vexillo fere 

 asquilongo, carina oblonga obtusa, antheris linearibus apiculatis, ovario 

 hirsuto, stylo filiformi, stigmate capitellato, legumine pollicari lineari- 

 oblongo piloso oligospermo, valvis convexis brunneis, seminibu3 orbiculari- 

 bus conipressis olivaceis nitidis, etropliiolo crenato. 



C. purgans, Boiss. Voy. Bot. Esp. (1838-1845) p. 134, lin. 8. Spach in Ann. 

 Sc. Nat. Ser. III. vol. iii. (1845) p, 156. Willk. <$f Lange, Fl. Hispan. 

 vol. iii. p. 456. 



Spartocytisus purgans, Webb. Sf Berth. Bhyt. Canar. Sect. ii. p. 45 (in nota). 



Sarothamnus purgans, Gren. 8f Godr. Fl. Franc, vol. i. p. 349. 



Genista purgans, Linn. Syst. Ed. x. p. 1157. Lamk. Fl. Franc, vol. ii. p. 618. 



DC. Prodr. vol. ii. p. 149. Bull., Herb. France, p. 117, t. 115. 

 Spartium purgans, Linn. Syst. Ed. xii. p. 474. Lodd. Bot. Gab. t. 1117. 



Asso, Syn. Stirp. Aragon. p. 90, t. 10. Ait. Sort. Kew. Ed. ii. vol. iv. 



p. 255. 



Avery handsome dwarf Broom, native of rocky hills in 

 France, from the Loire southward, and of the northern 

 half of Spain. Though bearing the name of purgans, 

 it has no place in any modern Pharmacopoeia ; nor, 

 except a bare mention of it, as a purgative and emetic, in 

 Planchon and Collins' ''Drogues Simples " (vol. ii. p. 514) 

 to which my friend Mr. Holmes drew my attention, can I 

 find any other account of its properties than that given by 

 Bulliard in his " Herbier de la France " cited above. This 

 last author places it in his list of poisonous plants, with 

 the French name of Genet Griot, and says of it, that 

 besides the emetic and purgative properties of Genista 

 tinctoria, it is a diuretic and hydragogue. He evidently 

 considers its use as dangerous, for he recommends anti- 

 dotes in cases of poisoning by a too free use of it. 



October 1st, 1898. 



