186 



THE PEAFLOWER TRIBE. 



3. Needle Genista. Genista anglica, Linn. (Fig. 227.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 132. Petty Whin.) 



A small, loosely branched, spreading 

 shrub, seldom a foot high, perfectly gla- 

 brous, the lower branches converted into 

 short, but slender, simple or branched 

 thorns. Leaves small, lanceolate or 

 ovate. Flowers few, in short, leafy ra- 

 cemes, paler and smaller than in the 

 Dyers G. ; the teeth of the calyx less 

 unequal ; the petals narrow, and often 

 turning green in drying. Pods about 6 

 lines long, broad, and much inflated. 



On heaths, moors, and bushy pastures, 

 in western Europe, extending eastward 

 to Denmark and north-w r estern Ger- 

 many. Frequent in England and the 

 greater part of Scotland, but not recorded 

 from Ireland. Fl. spring and early 

 summer, and sometimes again later in the 

 year. 



Tig. 227. 



III. BROOM. SABOTHAMNUS. 



Shrubs, with stiff, green branches, the leaves mostly with 3 digi- 

 tate leaflets. Calyx campanulate, with 2 short, broad lips, minutely 

 toothed at the top. Petals broad, the keel obtuse and slightly in- 

 curved. Stamens all united into a complete sheath. Style very long 

 and spirally incurved. Pod flat, much longer than the calyx, with 

 many seeds. 



A genus of very few species, chiefly from western Europe, separated 

 by rather slight characters from the exotic genus Cytisus, but now 

 generally adopted. 



1. Common Broom. Sarothamnus scoparius, Wimm. 



(Fig. 228.) 



(Spartium, Eng. Bot. t. 1339.) 



A shrub, of 3 to 5 feet, glabrous or nearly so, with numerous long, 

 straight and erect, green, wiry branches prominently angled. Lower leaves 

 shortly stalked, with 3 small, obovate leaflets ; the upper leaves sessile ; 



