52 CYTISUS, ANTHYLLIS. 



inefficient, remedy in many dropsical cases. — Besoms are called, in 

 the north. Brooms, having, until of late years, been commonly made 

 of the twigs of this shrub. In 1554, before the Bailiff's court, a jury 

 of twelve men found " that the yonge brome of this towne (Bervfick) 

 ought not to be cut, for it is a comodyte to this towne." 



10. Cytisus laburnum. %i)t Eabuvnum. In hedges, common. 

 June. In the summer of 1852 I saw at Twizell-house, the seat of 

 P. J. Selby, Esq., a Laburnum which bore a profusion of clusters of 

 purple flowers, many clusters of yellow flowers, a few clusters with 

 purple and yellow flowers intermingled, and a few tufts of the purple 

 Cytisus having its twigs loaded with its own peculiar blossoms. 

 These all grew on one and the same tree, sometimes on the same 

 branch. The stock was a yellow Laburnum, on which the purple 

 variety had been engrafted. Several instances of the same singular 

 phenomena have been recorded. See Notes and Queries, vi. p. 7-8. 



11. C. alpinus. Don Gard. Diet. ii. 154. ^coUfi Eaburmim. 

 In hedges, flowering about a fortnight later than the preceding. Don 

 says that it is a native of Scotland ; into which, other authors affirm, 

 it was introduced towards the end of the 17th century. There are 

 some large, and apparently old, trees about Chimside Bridge, which 

 have a glorious appearance when loaded with their golden clusters of 

 flowers. Those that graced the grounds of Bighouse were cut down 

 by a late proprietor to be converted into furniture ; and the hedges 

 near Charter-ha' have only recently been deprived of a row of La- 

 burnums that had scarce their equal in size and beauty anywhere.-— 

 The seeds of the Laburnum are poisonous. See Loudon's Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. vi. p. 74. 



129. Ononis ARVENSis. Rest-Harrow. Sandy links, borders of 

 fields, and in deans, common. I have gathered a variety with white 

 flowers on the road between Norham E. Mains andjvlorham. June- 

 Aug. In the season of flowering the root is dug up and eaten by 

 children, in idleness, as a substitute for the Liquorice-root of the apo- 

 thecary. The smell of the root, on being kept, is, however, very 

 disagreeable, and hence, in our district, the plant gets the name of 



130. O. ANTiauoRUM, Bab. = O. arvensis 0. B. On Castle- 

 hills. July-Aug. — Mr. Banks records, under O. arvensis, some ob- 

 servations which go to prove that the peculiarities which distinguish 

 O. antiquorum are the result of differences in the soil. Plymouth 

 and Devon. Flora. 



131. Anthyllis vuLNERARiA. Don Gard. Diet. ii. 166. ilaj 

 tlttS'jfi'nger^ : Crato^ntbS. Common. Sea and river banks ; in the 

 beds of our rock-bottomed burns ; and occasionally on dry banks in 

 pastures. June-Aug. 



the Koldenknowys. Mr. R. Chambers, who has given a very nice account 

 of the place, derives the name, however, from Coldun, a woodv height. 

 Pict. of Scotland, p. 28. 



