PAPILIONACE^. 157 



Calyx very hairy, with the bracts of the base about a line long ... 1. Common F. 

 Calyx nearly glabrous, the bracts scarcely perceptible 2. Dwarf F, 



1. Common Furze. XTlex europseus, Linn. 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 742. Furze, Oorse, or Whin.) 



A ahrub of 2 to 3 feet, or even twice that height when old and luxuriant, 

 and more or less hairy, especially on the main branches ; the numerous 

 sliort, intricate, small branches all ending in a stout thorn. Lower leaves 

 occasionally lanceolate, but the greater number reduced to thorns, 2 to 6 

 lines long. Flowers about 6 lines long, solitary in the axUs of the leaves on 

 the preceding year's shoots, forming showy racemes, intermixed with thorns 

 at the end of the branches. Calyx yellow like the petals and but little 

 shorter, clothed with brownish hairs, with a small, broad bract about a line 

 long on each side at the base, besides a similar bract under the short 

 pedicel. Petals narrow. 



On heaths and sandy and stony wastes in western Europe, extending 

 eastward to northern and central Germany, but not a Mediterranean species. 

 Abundant in England, Ireland, and southern Scotland, more scarce in the 

 north. Fl. spring and early summer, commencing occasionally in winter, 

 or even late in autumn. A double flowering variety, and another with com- 

 pact erect branches, commonly called Irish Furze (or U. stricta), are fre- 

 quent in gardens. 



2. Dwarf Furze. Ulex nanus, Forst. 



(Eng. Bot. t. 743.) 



Very near the common F., and perhaps a mere variety. It is of smaller 

 stature, less hairy, and of a deeper green ; the flowers of a deeper golden 

 yellow, and smaller ; the calyx glabrous, or with only a few short, scattered 

 hairs, and the bracts at its base very much smaller, sometimes quite micro- 

 scopic. 



On heaths and sandy or stony wastes, more strictly western than the 

 common F., as it does not cross the Rhine, but often intermixed with that 

 species. Very abundant in Britain. Fl. summer and autumn, whilst the 

 common F. is in fruit. There are two forms, sometimes very distinct, at 

 others rimning much one into the other ; one, the original U. nanus, found 

 chiefly in the plains of eastern England, is vei-y dwarf and procumbent, 

 with the calyx about 4 lines long ; the other, under the name of U. gallica, 

 is more erect, with the calyx about 5 hnes long, and is more frequent in 

 western England, often covering large tracts in the Welsh mountains. 



II. GENISTA. GENISTA. 



Low branching green shrubs or undershrubs, with single (or in some 

 exotic species trifoliolate) leaves and yeUow flowers. Calyx with 5 teeth, the 

 2 upper ones much longer than the 3 lower. Standard oblong, keel re- 

 flexed after flowering. Stamens all united in a complete sheath. Stigma 

 oblique. Pod longer than the calyx, with several seeds. 



A numerous genus chiefly in the Mediterranean region and western 

 Asia, the few British species easily distinguished by their foUage and the 

 shape of the petals. Many exotic species, however, present so much 

 variety, that the general circumscription of the genus, and its distinction 

 from Cytisus and other allied genera, are as yet far from being settled. 



p 



