528 



THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



tiful prostrate plant raised in Kew Gardens as 

 a cross between Ardoinii and the White 

 Broom, but distinct in habit from both 

 parents. It spreads by long trailing shoots, 

 rising only about 3 inches, but, in old plants, 

 covering a wide surface. Its creamy white or 

 pale yellow flowers are large and numerous, 

 thickly covering the pendant shoots during 

 May and June, their colour often paling with 

 exposure. 



C. linifolius (Fine-leaved Cytisus). An 

 erect shrub 4 or 5 feet high, with narrow leaves 

 and yellow flowers at the ends of the shoots in 

 a long succession from spring to early summer. 

 Being somewhat tender it can only be used in 

 the open in gardens of the south and west, 

 but is worth a place under glass in colder dis- 

 tricts for its distinct habit and early flowers. 

 Syn. Genista linifolia. 



C. nigricans (Summer-flowering Cytisus). 

 Of neat habit with long slender shoots reach- 

 ing 6 feet or more when full grown, hardy and 

 thriving in dry warm ground. The pale yellow 

 flowers are borne in long erect spikes of 9 

 inches at the ends of the new growths ; it is 

 easily raised from seed. The leaves, formed 

 of three leaflets, are downy and dark green, 

 fading to black when cut to which fact the 

 plant owes its specific name. Two or three 

 varieties of this plant are grown in longispi- 

 catus, with longer spikes of flower, and Car- 

 lieri with a long season of bloom and showing 

 flower-spikes and reddish seed-pods inter- 

 mingled. Syn. Lembotropis nigricans. 



C. praecox (Early -flowering Cytisus), A 

 hybrid of C. purgans and the White Broom, 

 with sulphur-coloured flowers from early May, 

 and, though hardy, should be planted in a 

 sheltered spot with some protection from wind, . 

 or its flowers are soon marred in bad weather. 

 Grouped amongst rocks, it is fine in effect, 

 being one mass of bloom when in flower. Old 

 plants are best renewed from cuttings, as they 

 do not break freely when cut back and rarely 

 come true from seed. 



C. purgans (Auvergne Broom}. A bush of 

 2 or 3 feet, the flowers, in April and May, 

 yellow and fragrant, while the plant retains 

 its good habit longer than many kinds. It is 

 easily increased from seed or cuttings under 

 glass in August. A native of the mountains 

 of France, it is quite hardy. 



C. purpureus (The Purple Cylisu<>). A 

 hardy plant from eastern Europe, often grafted 

 standard high upon the Laburnum, and in that 

 way short lived ; it is better on its own roots 

 as a low spreading bush in rock-garden, its 

 drooping shoots hung with purple flowers 

 from May onwards. It is so readily increased 

 from seed or cuttings that there is no need for 

 grafting. There are several varieties distinct 

 in habit or colour of flower : albus, with white 

 flowers in long curving wreaths ; atropurpureus 

 with flowers of deep purple ; albocarneus with 

 flowers borne in threes, rosy white on opening, 

 deepening to rosy lilac, with leaves and stems 

 covered with down ; erectus, with flowers deep 

 in colour and a rigid upright habit ; incarnatus, 



with fewer flowers but large and variously 

 shaded with rose and lilac ; pendulum, grown 

 as a standard, with slender weeping branches; 

 and super-bus, with large clusters of rosy lilac. 



C. Ratisbonensis (The Ratisbon Cytisus). 

 A low shrub akin to hirsitius, not exceeding 

 3 feet, and very free in its golden flowers 

 during May. 



C. schipkaensis (The Schipka Cytisus']. Of 

 low spreading habit, flowering in a long suc- 

 cession from the end of June, the yellowish- 

 white flowers borne in clusters. It is distinct, 

 hardy, but a greatly overrated kind. 



C. scoparius (The Common Broom and its 

 Varieties). For adorning ugly dry spots it has 

 perhaps no equal. Though a native wild 

 plant, the Broom sometimes suffers in severe 

 winters, especially when upon low valley bot- 

 toms ; in this way it shows itself less hardy 

 than the white and early Brooms (Cs. albus 

 and prcecox). There are several varieties of 

 the Common Broom, the finest is Andre's 

 Broom (C. Andreanus), in which the lower 

 petals are richly shaded with crimson or bronze 

 colour. It originated with a wild sport found 

 growing in Normandy, and, while rather diffi- 

 cult to raise from cuttings, layers will root and 

 a good percentage come more or less true as 

 seedlings, of which the best only should be 

 selected, many being dingy in colour. When 

 grafted it never lives long, often disappearing 

 suddenly ; but on its own roots it is as in- 

 different to conditions as any of the Brooms, 

 fine mature plants reaching a height of 12 teet 

 or more, fully branched, and of great beauty 

 when in flower. Variation in habit is shown 

 by pendulus, a dwarf shrub with large 

 flowers and pendant shoots, sometimes well 

 used to drape boulders or ledges in the rock- 

 garden ; and cantabricus, a similarly prostrate 

 form with fine flowers and silky leaves and 

 stems, found as a wild plant in the moun- 

 tains of Spain. The most effective way to 

 grow the Broom in country places of any 

 extent is to throw it out of hand on any 

 waste places, such as railway banks, newly- 

 formed fences, bare patches in woodland ; in 

 that way the amount of beauty it may give us 

 is difficult to describe. 



C. sessilifolius (Stemless-leaved Cytisus}. 

 A shrub from southern Europe, with small, 

 glossy green, almost stemless leaves, and short 

 erect spikes of yellow flowers in May. It is 

 of upright habit, neat and distinct, reaching a 

 height of about 6 feet. Though rarely seen in 

 England, it is well grown in the Dublin 

 Botanical Garden. Syn. Lembolropis sessili- 

 folius. 



C. versicolor (Many-colottred Cytisus). A 

 peculiar plant, hybrid of purpureus and hir- 

 sutus, in growth and outline like the Purple 

 Cytisus. Its leaves and shoots are, however, 

 thickly pubescent and its flowers, appearing in 

 May, pass from creamy-white to rose and lilac, 

 the several stages showing in the same cluster. 

 Though not a new plant, this hybrid is un- 

 common and distinct. 



The many forms of Laburnum, including the 



