CYTISUS 



457 



a short hairy calyx ; the standard petal is orbicular and incurved at the 

 edges. Pod | to i in. long, hairy, containing one or two seeds. 



Native of the Maritime Alps, where, according to Moggridge {Flora of 

 Mentone, t. 58), it is extremely rare in a wild state owing to the plants being 

 eaten over by grazing animals before the seeds have time to ripen. It was 

 first discovered by Ardoino, after whom it is named, in 1847, but was 

 apparently lost sight of until 1866, when it was found again by the Rev. 

 Win. hawker- and introduced to cultivation. It is a singularly pretty little 

 shrub, one of the dwarfest of brooms, quite hardy, and flowers freely. 

 Under cultivation it hybridises readily through insect agency if grown near 

 other species. It is the seed parent of C. kewensis and C. Beani, as well as 

 some other inferior unnamed kinds. It is a delightful rock garden plant, 

 but if associated with other brooms should be raised from cuttings to be sure 

 of coming true. 



CYTISUS BEANI. 



C. BEANI, Nicholson. 



_ A deciduous, semi-prostrate shrub, 6 to 18 ins. high, twice or thrice as wide, 

 with round, slightly grooved, slender branches, hairy when young, afterwards 

 smooth._ Leaves simple, linear, about ^ in. long, hairy. Flowers produced 

 singly, in pairs, or in threes at each joint of the previous summer's growth, 

 deep golden yellow, forming charming sprays of blossom up to I ft. in length. 

 A chance hybrid raised at Kew in 1900, and first noticed in a bed of 



