SPARTIUM. 



f, I, may have been done for this plant ; but it more refembles 



our trtfpermum. . 



7. S. virgatum. Long-twig'd Broom. Ait. n. 4. 

 Willd. n. 6. (Cytifus tener ; Jacq. Coll. v. 1.40. Ic. 

 Rar. t. 147. Linn. Syft. Veg. cd. 14. 667.)— Branches 

 round, furrowed. Leaves obovate, rather filky. Flowers 

 axillary, folitary, fomcwhat racemofe. Petals aU Wky. 

 Legume denfely hairy.— Found by Mr. Maffon in Madeira, 

 whence it came to Kew garden in 1777. It is a greenhoufe 

 ftrub, flowering in fpring. The copious ilender tranches 

 bear numerous alternate /eaves, half an inch long. Ihe 

 flowers are vellow, very filky in every part, and form cluf- 

 ters at the end of each branch, two or three of the lower 

 ones only being axillary. Legumes lanceolate, pointed, 

 clothed with fhort denfe hairs, and containing three or four 

 round feeds, which are feldom all perfefted. 



8. S. ramofiffmum. Branching African Broom. Desfont. 

 Atlant. V. 2. 132. t. 178. Willd. n. 7 — Branches round, 

 fan-owed, itraight. Leaves obovato-lanceolate, villous. 

 Flowers axillary, on Ihort ftalks, fomewhat whorled. Petals 

 all filky. — Native of mount Atlas, near Tlemfen. A (hrub, 

 two or three feet high, leaflefs when old, flowering early in 

 the fpring. The_^owfrj are yellow, ereft. Legume not 

 obferved, but the germen is villous. Desfont. 



9. S. purgans. Purging Broom. Willd. n. 8. Ait. n. j. 

 But not Linn. Syfl:. Nat. ed. 12. v. 2. 474. (Genitta pur- 

 gans ; BuUiardt. 115. G. five Spartium purgans; Bauh. 

 Hifl;. V. I. p. 2. 404.) — Branches round, furrowed. 

 Leaves obovato-lanceolate ; filky beneath. Flowers axil- 

 lary, folitary ; their italks thrice the length of the calyx. 

 Petals all fmooth. Legume fliaggy. — Native of the fouth 

 of France. We received it from the late Dr. Brouflbnet. 

 The flem is woody, very much branched, and itrongly fur- 

 rowed, not fpinous. Leaves chiefly on the young branches, 

 fmall, ftalked. Floiver-flalks filky, as long as the leaves, or 

 longer. Calyx partly filky. Petals yellow, (horter, and 

 more rounded, than in 5. cinereum, quite fmooth, except 

 the villous hairs, which knit thofe of the keel together. 

 Legume curved, denfely clothed with long ihaggy hairs. 

 Linna;uB was really unacquainted with this fpecies. His 

 Gen'ifia purgans, Sp. PI. 999, is a very fpinous fhrub, to- 

 tally different from Bauhin's plant, and may be S-fcorpius- 

 His S. purgans, adopted from Gerard in the 12th edition of 

 Sylt. Nat. is our cinereum, n. 6 ; yet we do not judge it 

 right to interchange the fynonyms, merely to countenance, 

 ftill lefs to conceal, a blunder of our great niafter, or of his 

 learned correfpondent, Gerard. The two plants can never 

 again be confounded. 



10. S. umhellatum. Umbellate Broom. Desfont. Atlant. 

 V. 2. 133. t. 180. Willd. n. 9. Ait. n. 6. — Branches 

 round, Itriated, leafy. Flowsrs capitate. Corolla filky, 



as well as the legume, and lanceolate leaves Native of the 



fea-coaft of Barbary. Sent to Kew by the late Dr. Brouf- 

 fonet. It is a greenhoufe fhrub, flowering from April to 

 June, very much branched, and readily known by its yel- 

 low, filky, capitate, rather than umbellate, ^/oTOfrj. Le- 

 gume oblong, comprefTed, denfely villous, containing from 

 three to five feeds. The leaves are often ternate, fo that this 

 fpecies ought rather to ftand in the next feftion, near 

 linifolium. 



11. S. Scorpius. Scorpion Broom.. I^inn. Sp. PI. 995. 

 Willd. n. 10. Ait. n. 7. Prodr. Fl. Gi;\-c. n. 1644. 

 (Genifta purgans ; Linn. Sp. PI. 999 ? G. fpinofa minor ; 

 Ger.Em. 1319. Afpalathus alter terttus ; Clid". Hiil. v. I. 

 106.) — Branches round, Itriated, fpreading, fpinous. Flower- 

 ftalks axillary, aggregate. Leaves oblong, hairy, with a 

 Spinous point. — Native of Spain, the fouth of France, 



6 



Greece, and the Archipelago. Each of the tranches ends 

 in a fliarp thorn, and the young ones fpread horizontally. 

 The leaves are fmall, oblong or obovate, loofely covered on 

 both fides with filky hairs. F/otvers yellow, their ttalk' 

 about as long as the leaves, and fituated, like them, on the 

 young branches only. We know nothing of the legume 

 Lamarck fays it is fmooth. The modern Greeks call this 

 plant A3a,'»v«. 



12. S. afpalathoides. Tubercular Thorny Broom. Def- 

 font. Atlant. v. 2. 136. Willd. n. 11. (Genilta afpala- 

 thoides ; Lamarck- Di6t. v. 2. 620. ) — Branches angular, 

 tuberculated, fpinous. Flower-ftalks axillary, aggregate. 

 Leaves linear-lanceolate, filky, unarmed. — Difcovered by 

 Poiret, on the coaft of Barbary, near Tunis. The flem is 

 much branched, two or three feet higli ; the branches befet 

 with fcattered tubercles, and ending in ftiarp thorns. Leaves 

 in fmall tufts upon the tubercles ; alternate on the young 

 (hoots ; fmall, narrow, covered with fliort, depreflcd, filky 

 hairs. Flowers twice the fize of the laft, pale yellow, axillary, 

 ilalked, two or more together ; their Jlalks, calyx, and cr- 

 rolla filky. Germen covered with white hairs. 



Seftion 2. Leaves moflly ternate. 



13. S. multiflorum. Portugal White Broom. Ait. n. 8. 

 Willd. n. 12. (S. album; Desfont. Atlant. v. 2. 132. 

 S. difpermum ; Willd. in Rom. and U(l. Mag. fafc. 11, 

 35. t. 2. Geniitaalba; Tabern. Kreuterb. 1509.) — Leaves 

 ternate or fimple, elliptic-lanceolate, filky. Branches 

 ilraight, llriated, covered with flowers. Legume filky, 

 with two feeds. — Native of Portugal and Barbary. A 

 hardy (hrub in our gardens, flowering in May. The Hem is 

 from four to fix feet high, with copious, ereft, long, itraight, 

 wand-like tranches, covered from top to bottom with elegant, 

 fnow-white, (talked, axillary flowers. The leaves are but 

 feldom ternate. The legume is ovate-oblong, comprefl'ed, 

 dark brown, clothed with whitifh hairs. 



14. S. angulatum. Angular-branched Broom. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 996. Willd. n. 13. Ait. n. 9. Sm. FI. Grsc. 

 Sibth. t. 672, unpubli(hed. (S. parviflorum ; Venten. 

 Cels. t. 87.) — Leaves moftly ternate, liaear-oblong. 

 Branches with fix angles. Flowers terminal, racemofe. 

 Legume elliptical, acute at each end, with one or two 

 feeds. — Native of the Levant. Hardy with us, flowering 

 in May and June. Its afpeft is that of a Mehlot, but the 



flem is (hrubby, with numerous ftraight upright tranches, 

 marked with three decurrent angles from the infertion of 

 each leaf. The leaflets are more or lefs obtufe, nearly equal, 

 (lightly hoary, not an inch long. Flowers fmall, yellow, 

 numerous, compofing long, folitary cluiters, at the end of 

 each branch. Legumes pendulous, (lightly hairy, com- 

 pre(red, thick-edged, three quarters of an inch long, having 

 an annular appearance at each fide from the projection of 

 the ufually folitary y^fj/. 



15. S. perficum. Perfian Broom. Willd. n. 14. (Cy- 

 tifus perficus ; Burm. Ind. 163. t. 51. f. i.) — Leaves ter- 

 nate, linear- lanceolate, ftalked ; the middle leaflet twice 

 as large as the others. Branches divaricated, roundi(h. 

 Flowers terminal, racemofe. — Native of Perfia. A fmall 

 fpecies, whofe genus feems uncertain, and of which neither 

 we nor Willdenow have feen any fpecimcn. There appears, 

 hovi'ever, fome affinity between it and the laft. T)\tflowers 

 evidently compofe terminal clufters. The branches, flalhs, 

 and caly:^ are downy. 



16. S. patens. Woolly-podded Broom. Linn. Syft. 

 Veg. ed. 13. 535. Willd. n. 15. Ait. n. 10, excluding 

 the fynonyra of Cavanilles. (Cytifus patens ; Linn. Syft. 

 Veg. ed. 13. 555. C. pendulinus ; Linn. Suppl. 328. C. 

 lufitanicus, medicse folio, floribus in foliorum alis ; Tourn. 



Ink. 



