THE LABURNUM. 39d 
circumference ; but the largest laburnum of British growth 
lately stood at Castle Leod, in Ross-shire, of the English 
variety, the trunk of which measured nine feet in circumfer- 
ence—a size very remarkable for a tree of the species. 
C. Laburnum purpureum (Hort.), the purple-flowering Labur- 
num, or C. Adami (Poiret), originated in France. It forms 
a hybrid between the common laburnum (Alpina) and the 
Cytisus purpureus, a dwarf, spreading shrub. The purple 
blossoms of the hybrid are tinged with buff, and of the size 
and shape of those of the common laburnum, and its habit of 
growth is vigorous and erect. The tree is in the habit of pro- 
ducing blossoms of both the parents, and of the variety, all 
three at the same time; and in cool situations, at a great 
altitude, it has been known to throw off the small twigs of C. 
purpureus, and the shoots of the hybrid variety in the form of 
dead-wood, and to appear entire a tree of C. Laburnum Alpina. 
This and several other kinds of laburnum are propagated by 
being engrafted on the common kinds. 
