Brooms and Genistas 



and it was the parent of the widely known and now 

 much favoured Cytisiis s. andreanus, to be found in 

 so many gardens. At a little distance this variety 

 appears to have yellow flowers with red-brown centres, 

 so that it is particularly striking and rich looking. 



Another variety, the " Moonlight Broom," or C. s. 

 sulphureus, has very pale yellow flowers, but is not 

 often seen nowadays, though it was described seventy 

 years ago. Neither of the varieties comes true from 

 seed, as the tendency is to revert to the primitive 

 Common Broom, so it is best in both cases to take 

 root plants for propagation. 



The White, or Spanish, or Portuguese Broom is 

 also a striking and pretty shrub in a garden in April 

 and May days. The fine supple shoots stand more or 

 less in parallel lines, and are covered with white 

 blossom. As its name implies, it comes from the 

 Iberian Peninsula, where common superstition says 

 that it is the juniper bush under which Elijah sat. 

 If so the prophet could not have chosen it for any 

 shade it might give. Whereas the Yellow Broom is 

 perhaps seen best massed together, the White Broom 

 looks best alone on a lawn, or intermingled with the 

 yellow. Though John Gerard described it in his 

 Herball of 1632, he specially mentioned that it was 

 " a stranger in England " ; and, in fact, it was not 

 introduced here until 1752. 



