SPARTIUM. 



Ihaped, afcerdin^ ; ftigma united to the upper fide of its 

 fummit, oblong, villous. Penc. Legume cylindrical, long, 

 obtufe, of one cell and two valves. Seeds feveral, kidney- 

 fhaped, fomewhat globofe. 



Efl'. Ch. Stigma longitudinal, villous above. Fila- 

 ments monadelphous, adhering to the germen. Calyx ex- 

 tended downward. 



The Linncean genus of Spartium is, by Juflieu, funk, 

 partly in Geni/la, after Tournefort, and partly in Cyti/us. 

 The Ipecies in the fourteenth edition of Svjl. l^eg. are fix- 

 teen ; Willdenow has twenty-five ; three of the Linnxan 

 ones being referred to Thunberg's Lebeckla. They are all 

 flirubby, with yellow, rarely white, ftill more rarely purplifh, 

 Jloiuers, and either fimple or ternate leaves. One only is 

 a native of Britain, though all the reft are of European 

 growth ; fixteen are enumerated amongft our garden plants 

 by Mr. Alton ; fome of them bearing the open air, others 

 requiring the (helter of a greenhoufe ; but none of them 

 very tender. As fome of the others promife to be well 

 worthy the notice of cultivators, and are eafily propa- 

 gated, we fhall take a brief view of the whole, introducing 

 one nondefcript fpecies, and offering a few corrcftions re- 

 fpefting fome of the reft. 



Sedlion l. Leaves fimple. 



\. S.jurueum. Spanifh Broom. Linn. Sp. PI. 99 J. Willd. 

 n. I. Ait. n. I. Curt. Mag. t. 85. Sm. Fl. Gra;c. 

 Sibth. t. 671, unpublifhed. (S. macrolobium ; Renealm. 

 Spec. 34. t. 35. Genifta hifpanica ; Ger. Em. 1313. 

 Genifta; Matth. Valgr. v. 2. 574.) — Branches oppofite, 

 round, flowering at the extremity. Leaves lanceolate. Le- 

 gume linear. — Native of the fouth of Europe. Frequent, 

 according to Dr. Sibthorp, on dry hills throughout Greece 

 and the Archipelago, where it is known by the name of 

 o-'!rix(Jo, being unqueftionably the o-n-a^liov of Diofcorides. 

 This (hrub was one of the firft exotics introduced into 

 cultivation in England, where it is quite hardy, flowering 

 moft part of the lummcr, and much cfteemed for the 

 beauty, and fweet lulcious fcent, of its large yellow 

 bloffoms. Its height is ufually fix feet or more, and the 

 copious, long, twiggy, tnugh tranches, bearing a few elliptic- 

 oblong leaves, make a fingular appearance. The jloivers 

 are fometiraes double, but are not improved in beauty by 

 that change. 



2. S. aphyllum. Leaflefs Siberian Broom. Linn. Suppl. 

 320. Willd. n. 2. Pallas Voyage, v. 3. append. 742. t. V. 

 f. 2. — Branches round, ftraiglit, wand-like, fmooth, fub- 

 tended by very (liort, linear-lanceolate, clofe-preded, wither- 

 ing leaves. Petals all fmooth. Legume ovate, with two 

 feeds. — Found by Pallas in blowing fand of the defarts about 

 the river Wolga, flowering in June. Tlie Jlenis, though 

 (hrubby and often fix feet high, die down every year. 

 They arc flendcr and much branched, with a fmall, incoii- 

 fpicuous leaf under each branch. Floivers fcattered along 

 the ultimate branches, folitary, on fliort ftalks, fmall, dull 

 violet ; yellowiih at the bafe. Legume a quarter of an inch 

 long, gibbous, comprclfcd, filky, as well as the calyx, jlower- 



Jlalhs, and younij branches. 



3. S. monofpermwn. White fingle-feeded Broom. Linn. 

 Sp. PI 995. Willd. n. 3. Ait. n. 2. Curt. Mag. t. 683. 

 (Pfcudo-jpartum album aphyllum; Ger. Em. 1318.) — 

 Branches round, furrowed. Clufters lateral, of a few rather 

 crowded flowers. Seeds folitary. Leaves lanceolate, filky, 

 as well as the wings and keel. — Native of dry barren hills 

 in Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. A hardy greenhoufe 

 plant with us, flowering in June and July. 'V\\^Jlem is five 

 or fix feet high, with numerous fleiulcr, pliant, glaucous, 

 furrowed branches, beuring, while young only, a few fimple, 



linear-lanceolate, obtufe, filky leaves. Flowers in fhort, 

 lateral, denfe cluders, white, with a dark-red fmooth calyx. 

 The Jlandar J is itreaked minutely with crimfon, and filky at 

 the back, about half an inch long. IVings and ieel partly, 

 but denfely, filky. Seed folitary. 



4. S./phierocarpum. Yellow fingle-feeded Broom. Linn. 

 Mant. 571. Willd. n. 4. Ait. n, 3. (S. hypofphaero- 

 lobium ; Renealm. Spec. 35. t. 33. Pfeudo-fpartum hif- 

 panicum aphyllum ; Ger. Em. 13 18.) — Branches round, 

 furrowed. Clufters lateral, many-flowered, folitary or ia 

 pairs. Seeds folitary. Leaves lanceolate, downy beneath. 

 Wings fmooth. Keel fomewhat filky. — Native of the 

 fouth of Europe. A greenhoufe plant, cultivated in Mil- 

 ler's time, flowering in June and July. Of more humble 

 growth than the preceding, with more erciS, llraighter 

 branches, and yeWowJlo'wers, not half fo large, though more 

 numerous in each clufter. Though the two plants are very 

 diftinft, their fpecific definition is not eafy. We agree 

 with Mr. Curtis, as to the probability of Clufius's wooden 

 cuts, and confequentlv thofe of Gerarde above cited, (which 

 are the fame blocks as thofe of Chiuus,) being tranfpofed. 

 Yet we cannot fay they are fo, for though the injlorefcence 

 of Gerard's f. i, applied to this yellow fpecies, is more like 

 the former, and vice verfa ; the iize of xhejlowers in f. 2 is 

 too large for the prefent. 



5. S.lrl/permtim. Yellow Three-feeded Broom. — Branches 

 round, ftriated, racemofe. Leaves very fliort, fpinous- 

 pointed. Wings fmooth. Keel filky. Legume half-ovate, 

 with three feeds. — Gathered on mount TEtna, by the baron 

 Bivona, from whom we, laft year, received fpecimens. This 

 is allied to the two laft, though eflentially diftindl in its/ruiV, 

 which more refemblee that of S. aphyllum, n. 3, but is nearly 

 fmooth, not filky, and contains three roundilh feeds. The 



jloivers, moreover, are difpofed as in that fpecies, being 

 loofely fcattered along the young branches, not compofing 

 lateral clufters : but they are thrice as large, yellow, and 

 fragrant, with more oblong petals, and the Ieel is filky, in 

 which laft character this Ipecies agrees with fphttrocarpum. 

 We have not feen the young leaves, but thole under the 

 flowering branches are fmall, thick, fliort, furrowed, with a 

 ftrong fliarp point. — The figure of Spartium, Matth. Valgr. 

 V. 2. 573, anfwers well to our plant, except that iUc/owers: 

 are reprefcnted much too fliort, and the legumes too hairy, in 

 which latter circumftance it anfwers better to S. purgans, 

 though, in other refpefts, not like that fpecies ; ftiU lefs 

 does it refemble the following. 



6. S. cinereum. Grcy-branched Broom. " Villars Pro- 

 fpeft. 40." Willd. n. 5. (Genifta fcoparia ; Villars 

 Dauph. V. 3. 420. Bellardi Append, ad Fl. P^dem. 34.) 

 — Branches round, with ton furrows. Leaves lanceolate; 

 filky beneath. Flowers axillary, folitary ; their ftalks not 



longer than the calyx. Keel filky. Legume hairy Native 



of funny hills in the fouth of France and in Piedmont. The 

 branches are much more leafy than in any of the foregoing. 

 Leaves nearly feflile, about three quarters of an inch long ; 

 fmooth above. Flowers yellow, much longer than the 

 leaves, on fliort filky ftalks. The talyxMo is filky, deeply 

 divided. Keel filky, efpecially toward the lower edge. 

 Legume hairy, with from three to five feeds. Gerard, from 

 whom, as well as from Bellardi, we have fpecimena, miftook 

 this plant, as many others have done, for S. purgans ; but 

 Willdenow well remarks, that the more eredt and flraight 

 branches, and elpecially the fliortnefs of X.\v: foiuer-Jlalks, 

 diftinguifli it from that fpecies. Villars thinks it may have 

 been confounded with S.fcoparium, which fcems hardly pof- 

 fiblc. He conceives the figure of Matthinlus, Valgrifian 

 edition, v. 2.573, l^^dly copied in Bauhin's Matlhiohis, 852, 



3 M ' f. I. 



