XX 

 BROOMS AND GENISTAS 



Cytisus scoparius . . . . Common Broom 

 with varieties C. s. andreanus 



C. s. sulphureus . " Moonlight Broom " 



Cytisus albus . . . White, Spanish, or Portuguese 



var. incarnatus Broom 



prcecox .... Warminster Broom 



nigricans 



Spartium junceum .... Yellow Spanish Broom 



Genista cetnensis .... Etna Rock Broom 



cinera 



virgata .... Madeira Broom 



hispanica .... Spanish Gorse 



A HOST of brilliant foreign shrubs find place 

 in our gardens, but a native shrub the 

 Common Broom challenges the gayest of 

 them for supremacy. Wherever it flowers it lights up 

 the garden like a torch, its whip-like shoots becoming 

 rods of pure gold, 



" Yellow and bright as bullion unalloyed 

 Her blossoms," 



as Cowper said, the brilliance undimmed by any dilu- 

 tion or overshadowing of green. For the Broom is a 

 so-called " Switch plant," and the leaves, each consist- 

 ing of three minute leaflets, are almost negligible and 



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