DIADELPHIA— DECANDRIA. Genista. 261 



thorns. Filaments all in one set at the base. Legume 

 fringed. 



S. scoparium. Liyin. Sp. PI. 996. Willd. v. 3. 933. Fl. Br. 753. 

 Engl. Bot. V. 19. t. 1339. Curt. Lond.fasc. 5. t. 52. Woodv. t. 89. 

 Fl. Dan. /. 3 1 3. Dreves Bilderb. i. AS. Ehrh. Arh. 56. 



S. n, 354. Hall. Hist. V. I. 154. 



Genista. Ger. Em. 131 1./. Fiichs. Hist. 213. f. Camer. Epit. 

 950./. Trag. Hist. 961./. Dod. Pempt. 761./ Riv. Tetrap. 

 Irr. t. 65./. I. 



G. angulosa trifolia. Rail Sy7i. 474. 



G. scoparia. Lam. Fran^. 619. Hook. Scot. 211. Lob. Ic. v. 2. 

 89./ 



In dry gravelly thickets and fields, abundantly. 



Shrub. May, June. 



A large bushy shrub, with copious, long, straight, angular, dark 

 green, smooth, tough branches. Leaves deciduous, scattered, 

 stalked, ternate j the upper ones generally simple j leaflets uni- 

 form, obovate, obtuse, entire ; silky when young. Fl. axillary, 

 solitary or in pairs, on simple stalks, longer than the leaves, 

 large and handsome, of a deep golden yellow ; sometimes tinged 

 with orange J more rarely of a uniform pale lemon-colour. The 

 swelling germen soon splits the tube of \h& filaments. Legume 

 brown, flat, above an inch long, nearly smooth at the sides, but 

 fringed with harsh hairs at each margin. Seeds about 15 or 16. 



A decoction of the young tops of this shrub, powerfully purgative 

 and diuretic, is a rustic remedy for dropsies, which regular prac- 

 titioners have not altogether despised. 



353. GENISTA. Green-weed. 



Linn. Gen. 368. Juss. 353. Fl. Br. 754. Lam. t.6\9. 



Col. tubular, two-lipped; upper hp in 2 deep segments; 

 lower in 3 more slight ones, nearly equal. Cor. of 5 

 petals ; standard oblong, undivided, ascending, very dis- 

 tant from the rest; wings elliptic-oblong, spreading, keel 

 of 2 petals, lanceolate-oblong, bluntish, slightly cohering 

 by their lower edges. Filam. 10, in 2 sets, though more 

 or less united at the bottom ; the odd one awl-shaped, 

 separated more than half way down. A^itJi. small, roundish. 

 Germ, oblong, compressed. Style awl-shaped, ascend- 

 ing, deciduous. Stigma terminal, simple, or slightly ca- 

 pitate. Legume turgid, somewhat compressed, oblong, 

 or roundish, obliquely pointed, of 1 cell and 2 concave 

 valves, subtended by the permanent calyx, and tipped 

 with the permanent curved base of the style. Seeds se- 

 veral, roundish, or somewhat quadrangular. 



