Laburnum 152.5 



The literature concerning L. Adami is very extensive, and need not be cited ^ 

 here ; but the reader may refer to an article by R. P. Gregory in Gard. Chron. 

 1. 162, 185 (191 1) on graft-hybrids, in which is given the anatomical evidence that 

 L. Adami resembles Cytisus purpureus in the structure of the epidermis, whilst its 

 internal structure is that of L. vulgare. 



There are good specimens ^ at Kew, and in several private gardens. 



Distribution 



L. vulgare is a native of Central Europe, occurring in the east of France from 

 Lorraine, through the Jura to the Dauphind, where it is common in woods on 

 calcareous soil. It is rare in Switzerland, but is widely spread through Lower 

 Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, and Hungary south of the Danube, attaining its 

 southerly limit in northern Italy, Dalmatia, Servia, and Bulgaria. 



All parts of the plant are said to be poisonous ; but this is doubtful, as we have 

 heard no case of animals ^ being affected from browsing on the leaves alone. The 

 seeds, however, contain a highly poisonous alkaloid,* cytisine, discovered by Huse- 

 mann and Marm6 in 1865 ; and ten seeds have proved fatal to a child. 



The flowers are produced regularly in May; but in some seasons, as in 1908, 

 a few trees flower a second time ^ in October. 



In old trees of Laburnum, decayed at the base, adventitious roots are occasionally 

 thrown out at some distance above the ground, and act as props to the stem. An 

 instance of this in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden was described and photographed 

 by Dr. Borthwick.^ (A. H.) 



Cultivation 



It was cultivated'^ by Tradescant In England in 1596, and is largely planted 

 everywhere as a small ornamental tree. 



The common Laburnum is very hardy. It was not hurt in Suffolk by the 

 severe winter of 1860-1861, and flowered well in the following May. The blossoms, 



1 The early history is given by Loudon, Gard. Mag. xii. 225 (1836), and xv. 122 {1839); and by Dillwyn, in Gard. 

 Chron. 1841, pp. 325, 366, and 1842, p. 397. Cf. also Kerner, Nat. Hist. Plants, Eng. Trans, ii. 570 (1898). 



^ Cf. Bean, in Gard. Chron. xxxv. 371 (1904). Cf. also The Garden, Ixix. 333 (1906), and Gard. Chron. xxxvi. 217 

 (1904), where an illustration is given of a tree of Z. Adami m Pennick's nursery at Delgany, Co. Wicklow. 



^ In the case reported by Dr. Stark in Gard. Chron. xvi. 666 (i88l), where cattle died at Huntfield, Lanarkshire, after 

 browsing on Laburnum, the pods were eaten as well as the leaves and branches. In Gard. Chron. 1. 310 (191 1) a case is 

 recorded of two cows which died after eating the tops of a felled Laburnum tree ; but these bore seed-pods as well as foliage. 

 The flowers are poisonous, according to Taylor, Med. Jurisp. 730-733 (1905), who considers a recorded case of poisoning by 

 the bark at Inverness to be doubtful. 



* FlUckiger and Hanbury, Pharmacographia, 172 (1879). The alkaloid labumine here mentioned proved to be only 

 vax^xa^ cytisine. Cf. Kunkel, Toxicologie, ii. 847 (1901). 



» Cf. Gard. Chron. xxxii. 253, 271, 290 (1902), and xliv. 313, 363 (1908). Autumnal flowers, seen in October at 

 Kingston-on-Thames, and on ist November at Antwerp, were noticed as borne in short racemes. 



8 Notes R. Bot. Garden, Edinburgh, xviii. 121, plate 24 (1907). 



' By Act V, Ed. IV. cap. 4 (Ireland), every Englishman was required to have a bow of his own height made of yew, 

 wych hazel, ash, or awbume. The awburne was possibly the Laburnum, as it is identical with the Scottish name for this 

 tree, hobum saugh, which is given in Jamieson's Dictionary. Cotgrave's Dictionary (i6n) gives the French word, " Aubourt, 

 a kind of tree, Latin albumus; it bears long yellow blossoms which no bee will touch." The flowers of the Laburnum are 

 visited by bees ; but Cotgrave here repeats an erroneous statement of Pliny. Cf. the correspondence on this subject in The 

 Phytologist, iv. 191, 255 (i860). Matthiolus mentions that in his time the wood of the Laburnum was considered to make 

 the best bows. 



