LEGUMINIFERiE. 11 



mucli exsei'ted. Seeds numerous, with the depressed hilum covered 

 by the dilated extremity of the funiculus. 



Shrubs with erect angulated green branches, not spinous. 

 Leaves stalked, trifoliate : the upper ones subsessile and unifoliate. 

 Stipules none. Flowers large, golden yellow, axillary, solitary 

 and in pairs, stalked, drooping. 



The name is derived from (rapoc (saros), a broom, and Oa/xvos (thamnos), a bush. 



SPECIES I.-SAROTHAMNUS SCOPARIUS. Eock. 

 Plate CCCXXIX. 



S. vulgaris, " Wimmer." Gr. & Godr. Fl. de Fr. Vol. I. p. 348. 

 S. communis, " Wimm." Fries, Sum. Veg. Scand. p. 48. 

 Spai'tium scoparium, Linn. Sm. Eng. Bot. No. 1339. 

 Genista scoparia, Lam. Die. Vol. II. p. 623. 

 Cytisus scoparius. Link. Enum. Vol. II. p. 241. 



Leaves trifoliate, stalked, those from which the flowers are pro- 

 duced sessile and frequently unifoliate. Style coiled, enlarged and 

 furrowed at the apex. Pods much compressed, glabrous except on 

 the margins. 



On low hills, heaths, commons, waysides, and in woods. Very 

 common, and generally distributed as far North as Sutherland. 



England, Scotland, Ireland. Shrub. Spring and early Summer. 



A much-branched shrub 1 to 5 feet high, with green, deeply 

 furrowed, straight branches. Leaves with the leaflets elliptical- 

 obovate, i to ^ inch long ; the petioles about as long as the leaflets, 

 except those from which the flowers are produced. Flowers on 

 long pedicels, bright yellow, 1 inch long, arranged in racemes 

 which are often combined so as to form panicles. Calyx widely 

 bell-shaped, laterally compressed, divided by a shallow notch into 

 an upper and lower lip, the two sepals of the uj)per and the three 

 of the lower lip being only indicated by extremly short teeth ; both 

 the divaricate lips becoming scarious at the margins. Pod 1^ to 

 2^ inches long, linear-oblong, much compressed, bossulated over 

 the seeds, black when ripe, hairy on the upper and lower sutures, 

 the valves opening with elasticity and twisting upon their own axis 

 when ripe. Seeds olive, roundish ovoid, compressed, shining, with 

 an oval depression at the hilum, where the funiculus spreads out 

 into a 2-lobed expansion. Plant deep green, hairy. 



Common Broom. 



French, Sparlain d, Balais. German, Besena/rtige Pfi-ienen. 



Of all our leguminous shrubs, the Broom is perhaps the favourite, and has, besides 

 its own attractions, the interest of historic and poetic associations. It was not 



