LABURNUM. LEGUMINOS^E. 



A genus consisting of three species, two of them small trees, one 

 shrubby, together with some hybrids and numerous varieties. Laburnum is 

 very closely allied to Cytisus, differing chiefly in the structure of the seed. 

 The leaves are composed of three leaflets, and the flowers are produced 

 in pendent racemes on the arborescent species, and in erect ones on the 

 shrubby one. 



Few trees of a similar character are so beautiful as the two common 

 laburnums. When fully in flower, and laden with streaming racemes of 

 golden colour, as they usually are in late May and June, nothing can 

 surpass them in effectiveness. The German popular name, " Golden 

 Rain," is peculiarly appropriate. They look their best in a group of three 

 to six trees, with a dark evergreen mass, like holly or holm oak, behind 

 them. Of very easy culture and raised readily from seed, no special 

 directions are needed for their treatment. They thrive in any soil that 

 is not waterlogged. It is often advisable to remove the seed-pods as soon 

 as the flowers are past. In some seasons the trees develop and ripen 

 enormous crops of pods, and this, besides being of no value or beauty, 

 is apt to induce a stunted condition of growth and reduce succeeding 

 crops of blossom. Laburnums are not particularly long-lived, and 

 attention to this matter will be repaid, especially in the case of valued 

 or fine specimens, by increased longevity. 



The seeds contain a poisonous alkaloid, and children have been 

 known to die from eating them in a green state. The heart-wood of 

 the trunk is of a dark colour and very hard; it is sometimes used as 

 a substitute for ebony, occasionally also for furniture making. Many 

 trees and shrubs of the Leguminosse can be grafted on laburnum, and 

 the abundance of its seed and easy cultivation have made it very much 

 used as a stock for many of its allies. 



L. ADAMI, Kirchner. PURPLE LABURNUM. 



A deciduous tree with the habit and aspect of L. vulgare, up to 25 ft. 

 high ; leaflets oval or obovate, i^ to 2^ ins. long. Racemes 5 to 7 ins. long ; 

 flowers yellowish suffused with purple, of the same shape and character as 

 those of L. vulgare, but, like the leaflets, smaller. So far as I have seen, this 

 laburnum is quite sterile. 



Although inferior to either of the common laburnums in beauty, there is 

 no more interesting tree in our gardens than this. It appeared in the nursery 

 of Mr Jean Louis Adam, at Vitry, near Paris, in 1825. According to Adam's 

 account, he had grafted the dwarf purple broom (Cytisus purpureus) on a 

 common laburnum, and on the grafted plant a branch appeared with purplish 

 yellow flowers intermediate in hue between those of scion and stock L. Adami, 



