358 



TREES AND SHRUBS 



Name. 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Order, 



Colour 



AND 



Season. 



General Remarks. 



'Cytisus nigricans 



'C. prsecox 



Austria 



Hybrid between 



C. purgans and 



C. albus 



Bright 

 yellow ; 

 July and 

 August 



Sulphur 



yellow ; 



April to 



May 



purgans 



*C. purpureas 



South and Central 

 Europe 



Found in Eastern 

 Europe in exposed 



Yellow 



Purple 



while in beauty. Sunshine 

 and poor soil bring out its 

 finest qualities. One can 

 scarcely say too much in its 

 praise, especially as it blooms 

 at a time few trees and shrubs 

 are in flower. 



One of the most fascinating 

 of all flowering shrubs. It 

 makes clouds of soft colour- 

 ing, every shoot hidden with 

 the wealth of bloom ; whilst 

 when out of flower there is 

 beauty in the brilliant green 

 colouring of the long slender 

 shoots. It is a shrub to 

 make groups of in the flower 

 garden, grows quickly, does 

 not soon get "leggy," and is 

 very dense. The big groups 

 of it on the grass in the Royal 

 Gardens, Kew, are one of the 

 delights of the spring season 

 there. The ordinary shrub- 

 bery is the worst place for it, 

 all its gracefulness is lost, 

 there is no fountain of flowers 

 from the slender shoots. It 

 is best raised from cuttings, as 

 seedlings are apt to reproduce 

 C. albus only. Also well 

 known as Genista prsecox. 



Chiefly of note because it is one 

 of the parents of C. preecox, 

 but is of little account for the 

 English garden. It is neces- 

 sary in a collection, but no- 

 where else. 



A delightful shrub when pro- 

 perly placed. Loudon's ad- 

 vice to graft it "on the 

 laburnum standard high " is 

 bad, and has been followed 

 in many gardens. This way 

 of treating the shrub is utterly 

 foreign to its nature ; it is a 

 trailing Broom, and there- 

 fore should be planted on the 

 rough garden or some bank 

 where it can spread in its 

 own way. We have seen it 

 falling over a boulder and 

 making a trail of purple 

 colouring in May. Rare 

 varieties are albus, white, 

 and one with flowers of rose 

 tint. The famous Cytisus 

 Adami is the outcome of 

 grafting this species on the 

 Scotch laburnum (L. al- 

 pinum). This curious graft- 



