220 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
to the soil and situation. Flowers large, yellow ; May and June. Legume 
black; ripe in September. Naked young wood green. 
Varieties. 
& C.s. 2 albus Hort. has the flowers white, or of a very pale yellow. 
% C. s. 3 flore pléno Hort. has flowers slightly double. 
The roots are straight, and penetrate perpendicularly to a great depth. The 
leaves are trifoliolate or simple ; the branches numerous, long, straight, angular, 
dark green, smooth, and tough. The flowers are of a deep golden yellow, 
sometimes tinged with orange, and occasionally of a uniform pale lemon 
colour: they are succeeded by pods above an inch long, 
black when ripe, and each containing 15 or 16 seeds. 
The flowers are larger than those of any other species 
of the genus; and, were the plant not so common in 
a wild state, it would, doubtless, be considered the y 
most ornamental, The whole plant is exceedingly tough, ~ 
and bitter to the taste, and has a strong disagreeable 
smell. Though it is at present comparatively neglected, 
yet in former times it was one of very great importance 
in rural and domestic economy. The branches are eaten 
by sheep and cattle ; and, on poor gravelly soils, formed, 
‘before the general improvement of grass lands which 
has taken place within the last century, the principal 
herbage. One of the principal modern uses of the broom, 
both in Britain and on the Continent, is to form 
brooms, or besoms; for which purpose, as the specific 
name would imply, it appears to have been used from 
time immemorial. The young shoots were formerly 
used as a substitute for hops in brewing beer; and the 
flower-buds, just before they become yellow, were pickled : 
in the manner of capers. The tops and leaves are purgative and diuretic. 
In the North of Scotland, a decoction of the recent shoots is used by shep- 
herds, for dressing the backs of sheep, instead of tobacco water. The broom 
produces abundance of seeds, which, according to M. Hartig, retain their 
germinating quality for a very long time: some that he kept 25 years, ina 
room which was occupied, having come up as readily as new seed. 
349. Cytisus scoparius. 
§ iii. Calycétome Link. 
Derivation. From kalyz, acalyx, and tomé, a cutting; in reference to the calyx, the upper part of 
which, after some time, falls off, in such a manner as to give the remainder the appearance of being 
cut round. 
Sect. Char. Calyx campanulate, somewhat bilabiate, at length becoming trun- 
cate. Pod thickened on the upper suture. Shrubs with spiny branches 
and yellow flowers. (Dec. Prod.) 
% 10. C. spino‘sus Lam. The spiny Cytisus. 
Identification.” Lam. Dict., 2. p. 247.; Dec. Prod., 2. p. 154.; Don’s Mill, 2. p. 155. ; Webb Iter 
Hispan., 51. 
Synonym, Spartium spindsum Lin. Sp. 997. 
Engravings. J. Bauh, Hist., 1. p. 2. p. 376., icon. ; Lob, Icon., 2. t. 95.; and our fig. 350. 
Spec. Char., §c. Branches angled, spiny. Leaves trifoliolate ; Webs 
leaflets obovate-oblong. Legumes perfectly smooth. (Dec. ca 
Prod.) An upright spiny shrub. Upon hills and rough places 
from Perpignan to Genoa, in Corsica, and in the Algerine : 
country. Height 2 ft.to 10 ft. Introducedin 1596. Flowers ¢ 
yellow; June and July. Legume black ; ripe in October. y 
There are plants in the Hort. Soc. Garden. 50 Coepiniccs, 
