66 GARDEN FLOWERS. 



a powerful influence on the human constitution. 

 Happily tliey have not the pleasant flavour 

 -which might render them attractive to chil- 

 dren ; yet the writer of these pages once saw 

 two Httle ones rendered very ill by having eaten 

 laburnum seeds, and it required the prompt 

 use of medical remedies to prevent more lasting 

 effects on the constitution. 



Another species of the laburnum, commonly 

 called in our country the pigeon pea, produces 

 seeds which are mtich eaten by the negroes 

 and poor people of the West Indies, while they 

 are often given to horses and other cattle, 

 which thrive exceedingly well on them. In 

 the island of JNIartinico they are served at 

 table as a dish for the rich, who prefer them 

 even to the green peas of our country. Both 

 our wild and cultured broom plants are by 

 many writers considered as species of the 

 cytisus. The Scotch laburnum {Cytisns 

 alpimis) has larger leaves and flowers than the 

 common kind. It is frequent in our gardens, 

 and blossoms a month later than that. The 

 Itahans name it after this month, as we do 

 our hawthorn ; for with them it blooms in 

 May. 



A very common flower, to be found indeed 

 in almost every garden, is the red spur flower, 

 or red valerian, commonly termed Pretty 

 Betty. It has long been known to botanists as 

 Valeriana 7'iibra, but is now called Cent rant kiis 

 rubra. It varies in all shades of red, from 

 crimson to palest pink, and is sometim.es of a 



