LABURNUM, BROOM, AND GORSE 



yellow laburnum blooms. I know by her kindly 

 smile, while I have been admiring the trees, that 

 she will tell me to help myself. There ! She is 

 asking me if I would like '^ a bunch." 



Now, if you will come with me to where the 

 broom and gorse grow, I will endeavour to show 

 you some details with regard to this garden tree 

 and these wild shrubs that you may not have 

 noticed. 



There is no mistaking where the broom lies. 

 In the hollow of the heath there is a blaze of 

 golden yellow, such a display of that colour which 

 no other British shrub or tree can produce. The 

 gorse, or furze, that grows in the same situation, 

 runs it close when at its best, but the larger 

 flowers that so crowd the branches and seem all 

 desirous of greeting the sunlight and the bees 

 together, and the greater height of the bush, 

 leave no doubt that the broom is the predomin- 

 ating painter of the landscape. 



Alongside this branch of laburnum that I have 

 brought let us place another of broom and still 

 another of gorse (Figs. 64, 65, and 66, Plates 43, 

 44, and 45). It becomes obvious at once that the 

 flowers of each are very similar. Each bears a 

 butterfly-like blossom, or, if you prefer it, a pea- 

 flower. But we may leave the flowers for a 

 moment while we glance at the leaves. 



Each leaf of the laburnum is seen to consist of 

 three somewhat oval leaflets borne on a long 

 stalk. The broom has much smaller leaves, the 

 lower ones on the branches having very short 



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