FLOWERING TREES AND SHRUBS 55 



hairs, and bright-yellow, somewhat tubular flowers, usually 

 produced in fours. 



C. decumbens (syn Genista prostrata). — A charming 

 alpine species, of low, spreading growth, with bright-green, 

 three-parted leaves, and bearing axillary bunches of large 

 yellow, brownish-purple-tinted flowers. A native of the 

 French and Italian Alps, and quite hardy. 



C. Kewensis is of remarkably prostrate habit with 

 creamy-white flowers, and is a cross between C. albus and 

 C. Ardoini, and was raised at Kew. 



C. nigbicans. — Austria, 1730. Another beautiful species, 

 with long, erect racemes of golden-yellow flowers, and one 

 whose general hardihood is undoubted. On its own roots, 

 and allowed to roam at will, this pretty, small-growing 

 Broom is of far greater interest than when it is grafted 

 mop-high on a Laburnum stem, and pruned into artificial 

 shapes, as is, unfortunately, too often the case. 



C. purpukeus. — Purple Broom. Austria, 1792. A beau- 

 tiful low, spreading shrub, with long, wiry shoots, clothed 

 with neat trifoliate leaves, and bearing an abundance of 

 purple, Pea-shaped flowers. There is a white-flowered 

 form, C. purpureus albus, and another named C. purpureus 

 ratisbonensis, with pretty yellow flowers, produced on long 

 and slender shoots. 



A C. scopaeitjs. — Yellow Broom. This is a well-known 

 native shrub, with silky; angular branches, and bright- 

 yellow flowers in summer. There are several varieties, 

 but the most remarkable and handsome is C. scoparius 

 Andreanus, in which the wings of the flowers are of a 

 rich golden brown. It is one of the showiest shrubs in 

 cultivation, and was found wild in Normandy in 1886. 



C. schiposnsis (Balkan Mountains, 1892) is a worthy 

 species with plentifully-produced white flowers. Of hybrid 

 forms there are many, such as prmeox, with wreaths of 

 sulphur-yellow flowers produced early in the season. The 

 parents are 0. purgans and C. albus. 



