70 CTTISUS SCOPARIUS 



as long as wings, blunt, at length turned downwards. Stamens 

 10, inserted at the base of the calyx, the filaments all united for 

 some distance into a closed tube, their ends free, the 5 longer 

 alternating with the 5 shorter, curved upwards, anthers small, 5 

 versatile and 5 sub-basifixed. Ovary sessile, compressed laterally, 

 with dense silky hairs along each edge, style long, much curved 

 upwards or even coiled into a ring, smooth, stigma terminal. 

 Pod about 1J inches long, oblong or linear- oblong, curved or 

 nearly straight, with an apiculus at the end, much flattened, dark 

 brown, smooth on the sides, with a fringe of long white hairs 

 along the edge, valves separating with elasticity and becoming 

 afterwards much twisted, smooth inside. Seeds about 12 18 in 

 the pod, nearly sessile along the upper (ventral) suture, oblong- 

 ovoid, slightly compressed, smooth and shining, olive-coloured, 

 hard, the short funicle dilated into a thick two-lobed mass 

 (strophiole) over the hilum ; radicle thick, incumbent ; endosperm 

 scanty. 



Habitat. This familiar and beautiful shrub is very common 

 throughout this country on heaths and open places, and in woods, 

 often growing in great quantity and forming a marked feature 

 in the vegetation of many sandy districts, especially noticeable in 

 May and June when covered with its brilliant scented flowers. 

 It is found in equal abundance throughout Western Europe, but 

 becomes rare in the central and eastern parts, and in the 

 Mediterranean countries. It, however, occurs in Italy and in 

 Central and Southern Kussia, extending even into Siberia. 



The five prominent wing-like angles which give so striking a 

 character to the young twigs are remarkably persistent, and can 

 be traced on the very oldest stems ; as the stem increases in 

 thickness they become of course more widely separated, and at 

 length appear as distant arching ridges, the summit of each arch 

 marking the point of attachment of a leaf. 



A pretty form with prostrate stems spreading in a circle is 

 found on the cliffs of the west of France and England, where 

 they are exposed to the winds and spray of the Atlantic Ocean. 



A small quantity of endosperm is certainly present as a thin 



