CYDONIA CYTISUS 455 



Besides these there are other varieties with vernacular names, the best 

 perhaps of which is the "Vranja" Quince, introduced from and long grown 

 near Vranja, in S. Servia. The fruit is very fragrant, of a clear shining 

 gold, and said to have a softer flesh than most quinces. 



The native country of the quince, like that of some other commonly 

 cultivated plants, does not appear to be definitely known. It has been 

 cultivated in S. Britain and S. Europe from time immemorial, and, if not 

 wild, is naturalised in many countries bordering the Mediterranean. The 

 fruit when raw is harsh and astringent, and unfit for food, but it has long been 

 grown in orchards for flavouring apple-pies, ices, and various confections. 

 The pear-shaped form is perhaps the handsomest of all hardy fruits. The 

 quince is largely employed as a stock on which pears are "grafted. 



CYRILLA RACEMIFLORA, Linnceus. LEATHERWOOD 

 CVRILLACE^:. 



A deciduous shrub in this country, 4 ft. or more high (a small tree in 

 some parts of its native habitat), of spreading habit, free from down in all 

 its parts ; young shoots slender, very leafy. Leaves alternate, oblanceolate 

 or obovate ; i \ to 4 ins. long, \ to i \ ins. wide ; much tapered at the base, 

 more abruptly so or rounded at the apex, dark lustrous green ; stalks 

 \ in. or less long. Flowers very small, numerous and white, crowded 

 on slender cylindrical racemes, 3 to 6 ins. long, J to f in. wide ; produced 

 in late summer and autumn ; the racemes appearing in a horizontal 

 whorl at the base of the current season's growth. Fruit a roundish 

 capsule ^ in. long. 



Native of Eastern N. America from N. Carolina to Virginia; found 

 also in the West Indies. This curious shrub was introduced to Britain 

 in 1765, but had long disappeared until reimported ten or fifteen years 

 ago. Only the form from the northern limits of its distribution, which is 

 shrubby and deciduous, is hardy in the south of England; the more 

 southern forms are evergreen, tree-like, and not hardy. The profusion 

 and curious arrangement of the racemes as well as the season at which 

 they appear, give the species a certain distinction and merit. It thrives 

 in a mixture of peat and loam. The natural- order to which it belongs is 

 regarded as being allied to the holly family. 



CYTISUS. BROOMS. LEGUMINOS^E. 



A very important place is filled in gardens by the group of shrubs 

 commonly classed together as "brooms." Of this group, which includes 

 Genista, Spartium, etc., Cytisus is the most important genus. Its species 

 are mostly quite deciduous, some are almost always leafless, and all are 

 shrubby, varying in stature from 12 ft. or more high, down to less than as 

 many inches. The leaves are alternate, simple, or trifoliolate (sometimes 

 both on the same plant). The flowers have the pea-flower shape 

 characteristic of the order, and, with the exception of one or two species, 

 they are yellow. Fruit a pod. The genus is essentially a European 

 one, but a few species extend eastward to Asia Minor, and others reach 

 across the Mediterranean to N. Africa. 



