i6o 



COMMON WEEDS 



FlG. 42. Dyer's Green-weed (Genista tinctoria L. \ 

 nat. size. 



butter and cheese made from it." l 



what like those of 

 Broom or Gorse, 

 in long racemes. 

 The flowers ap- 

 pear in July to 

 December (Fig. 

 42). It was for- 

 merly used as a 

 yellow dye, and 

 it is likely that it 

 was the planta 

 genista which 

 formed the badge 

 of the Planta- 

 genets. 



The weed has 

 been recorded as 

 causing much 

 loss in the Mal- 

 vern district, and 

 we know a farm 

 in Surrey where 

 it has proved a 

 nuisance. Stock 

 do not usually 

 appear to touch 

 it, but " cows will 

 sometimes eat 

 this plant, and it 

 communicates an 

 unpleasant bitter- 

 ness to their milk, 

 and even to the 

 Knapp 2 states that 



1 Johnson and Sowerby, Useful Plants of Great Britain, p. 69. 

 ' 2 Journal of 'a Naturalist, 1829, p. 76. 



