382 



TREES AND SHRUBS 



Name. 



Country or 



Origin and 



Natural Order. 



Colour 



AND 



Season. 



General Remarks. 



Laburnum (Cytisus) 

 vulgare (Golden 

 Rain or Chain) 



L. alpinum (Cytisus 

 alpinus), Scotch 

 laburnum 



L. Watereri 



L. Adami (Purple 

 laburnum) 



Called the Scotch 

 laburnum be- 

 cause a supposed 

 native of Scot- 

 land, but this is 

 not true. Loudon 

 says : "It was 

 introduced into 

 Britain about the 

 same time as the 

 other species, 

 1596." The other 

 species is Labur- 

 num vulgare. 



Hybrid 



Graft-hybrid 



Yellow 



Yellow 



Purple, 

 yellow, 

 and buff 



as Watereri and Parksii 

 which bear racemes fully 16 

 inches in length, aud of a 

 rich-toned yellow. There is, 

 unhappily, in gardens, a pre- 

 ponderance of inferior seed- 

 ling trees, because they can 

 be raised easily and sold 

 cheaply, but it is better to 

 have one grafted tree of a 

 first-rate variety than a dozen 

 inferior kinds. 



' ' The number of named 

 varieties of L. vulgare enume- 

 rated in Continental and 

 English nursery lists exceed 

 a score, and most of them are 

 mere monstrosities of leaf- 

 form or colour, only appre- 

 ciated by the collector of 

 curiosities. The finest vari- 

 eties are those named Al- 

 chingerii, giganteum , Carlieri , 

 and grandiflorum. Any of 

 these, if true to name, are 

 the kinds to plant. They all 

 bear very long racemes, pro- 

 duced abundantly." 

 This is a well-known tree. 

 Some of its varieties are 

 very beautiful, especially 

 Watereri, which has very 

 long racemes, and when in 

 full beauty is a lovely picture. 

 This should be made note of 

 as one of the most charming 

 of all early summer flowering 

 trees. Parksii is another 

 beautiful variety, whilst there 

 are also autumnalis (flowers 

 in autumn, hence the name), 

 biferum, grandiflorum, and 

 hirsutum. 

 We have given this special pro- 

 minence for the reason it is a 

 hybrid. InBailey's"American 

 Cyclopaedia " occurs thisnote : 

 "Watereri, Dipp. (L. Parksii, 

 Hort, C. alpinus and vulgaris 

 Wittst.) Hybrid of garden 

 origin, but found also wild. 

 ... As hardy as L. alpinum 

 and sometimes considered to 

 be a variety of that species." 

 This is a remarkable tree, and 

 is named after M. Adam, who 

 grafted Cytisus purpureus 

 on the common laburnum. 

 Loudon says the purple la- 

 burnum "is a hybrid between 

 Cytisus laburnum and C. pur- 



