Beautiful Flowering Shrubs 



Cytisus prczcox, a hybrid between this Broom and a 

 little-known south European yellow Broom C. purgans 

 is another most desirable garden shrub, being a 

 mass of the loveliest pale lemon-coloured flowers in 

 the early spring. It has, however, a rather heavy 

 close scent. It is best grown in isolation, so that the 

 full gracefulness of its supple shoots can be seen. It 

 first appeared spontaneously among some seedlings of 

 C. purgans in a nursery garden at Warminster, 1867. 



There are many other species or hybrids of Broom, 

 but it may suffice to name now C. nigricans as worthy 

 to rank among the best. It is so called either because 

 it is black-rooted or because it turns black when dried. 

 It came here from Austria about 1730, but never seems 

 to have gained the popularity it deserves, for its hardi- 

 ness, its floriferousness, and for the fact that it blooms 

 in midsummer when most of the Brooms are over. 



All sorts of traditions and superstitions have 

 centred round the Broom. It was the " Planta-genista," 

 the badge of the Plantagenets chosen by Gefroi, Duke 

 of Anjou, father of our Henry II., because he saw a 

 plant of it firmly grasping the rock and upholding the 

 crumbling soil. In olden days a bunch of its twigs 

 was generally used by housewives for sweeping, hence 

 the name " broom " still used for a brush, and an old 

 proverb ran, " Sweep the house with the Broom in 



May, and you'll sweep the luck of the house away," or, 



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