592 GENISTA GINKGO 



grassland, and dry gravelly soils. It is also spread over Europe, and reaches 

 Siberia. Under cultivation it is a pretty plant and flowers freely, but is not so 

 attractive as its variety FLORE PLENO, which is also a dwarf, semi-prostrate 

 shrub, but owing to the more numerous petals more brilliant in colour. This 

 is, indeed, one of the best of all dwarf yellow-flowered shrubs. Seeds and 

 cuttings can be employed to increase the typical form, but the double-flowered 

 one, being sterile, can only be propagated by cuttings. In former times this 

 Genista was of some value as the source of a yellow dye. 



Although known as " greenweed," the colour derived from it was a bright yellow, and 

 it was only by afterwards dipping the yellow yarn or cloth into a blue solution of woad 

 ^Isatis) that the green tint was obtained. This was the process by which was obtained 

 the once celebrated " Kendal green," so-called from the town of Kendal in Westmoreland, 

 in the vicinity of which the plant was abundant, and where also the process was first 

 introduced by Flemish emigrants in the reign of Edward III. Treasury of Botany, vol. i., 

 p. 526. 



Var. ELATIOR, Schultze (G. elatior, W. D. Koch}. In its morphological 

 characters this resembles ordinary G. tinctoria, but is an altogether, stronger- 

 growing, bigger shrub. It is of quite erect habit, 3 to 5 ft. high ; leaves up to 

 i^ ins. or more long, and J to | in. wide. Flowers individually no larger than in 

 the cultivated type, but they are borne in large panicles sometimes 12 to 18 

 ins. high. Several minor forms, varying in size and shape of leaf, are included 

 under this. 



Var. HIRSUTA, De Candolle. Habit approaching the type, but with twigs 

 and leaves hairy. 



Var. MANTICA, Fiori (G. mantica, Pollini]. Of medium height, with 

 downy leaves, stems, and pods ; young wood purplish ; calyx reddish. This 

 distinct variety flowers earlier than the ordinary tinctoria. 



(Var. OVATA, Schultze -, see G. ovata.) , 



G. VIRGATA, De Candolle. MADEIRA BROOM. 



(Bot. Reg., vol. 30, t. n.) 



A deciduous shrub of bushy habit when old, up to 12 ft. high, and as much 

 or more through ; young branches grooved. Leaves simple, grey-green, with 

 little or no stalk, about " in. long, ^ in. wide ; silky beneath, edges slightly 

 decurved. Racemes i to 2 ins. long, terminating short shoots of the year, 

 very abundant. Flowers bright yellow, ^ in- long, standard petal roundish, 

 about | in. across. Calyx clothed with" silky hairs. Pod i in. long, very 

 silky, carrying three to five seeds. Flowers in June and July, and intermittently 

 until October. 



Native of Madeira, and one of the few shrubs from that island that are 

 really hardy with us. It was brought home from Madeira by Francis Masson 

 in 1777, on his return from the Cape of Good Hope, where he had for five 

 years been collecting plants for Kew. It has naturalised itself in several parts 

 of the Kew woods, and is never injured in the least by frost, but until quite 

 recently it was scarcely known in gardens. Flowering in June and July when, 

 shrubs generally are going out of flower, and thriving quite well in semi-, 

 shaded positions in thin woodland, it is an exceptionally valuable broom, especi- 

 ally as it will thrive in rough grass which gets no more attention than an 

 annual mowing. It resembles G. cinerea previously described (g.v.}, and the 

 two probably are geographical forms of one species. (Fig. p. 593.) 



GINKGO BILOBA, Linnceus. MAIDENHAIR TREE. TAXACE/E. 



(Salisburia adiantifolia, Smith.") 



A deciduous tree, over 100 ft. high, unisexual, not resinous, usually of 

 somewhat pyramidal habit (the male at least); trunk often branching 



