The yOUHO HATURAUST : 



A Monthly Magazine of Natural History. 



Part 43. JUNE, 1883. Vol. 4. 



BROOM AND FURZE. 



By J. P. SouTTER, Bishop Auckland. 



OP the many beautiful plants which 

 bedeck our waste commons and 

 moorlands, during our all too brief 

 Summer, none can rival the broom 

 and gorse for gay colouring and 

 gorgeous splendour. Our somewhat 

 sober landscape is then lighted up 

 with a golden glory, which "won from 

 the devout pioneer of systematicbotany, 

 t Linneus, the traditional exclamation of 

 praise to God for allowing his eyes to 

 behold so beautiful a sight as a gorse 

 covered English common when in full 

 , bloom. Its very exuberance almost 

 satiates our senses with its beauty, as 

 we gaze on the moor " with blossomed 

 furze unprofitably gay," and inhale its 

 odorous fragrance, whilst watching the 

 industrious pollen-laden bees on a 

 bright summer^s day. 



The broom and furze belong to the 

 very large and important natural order 

 Legumhiosce, which derives its name 

 from the characteristic fruit — a legume 

 or pod, which is well exemplified in 

 the fruit of the broora or common 

 garden pea. When mature it is seen 



to split naturally into two equal halves, 

 each bearing an alternate row of seeds 

 on its margin. All our native plants of 

 this order are included in a sub-order 

 papilionacea, so called from the 

 butterfly shape of the flowers. These 

 are so singular in appearance as to be 

 recognisable at a glance by the veriest 

 tyro in botany, they can only possibly 

 be confused with the fumitories and 

 milkworts humble and inconspicuous 

 weeds, and even these are abundantly 

 distinct. Everyone knows the golden 

 blossoms of the broom, and its corolla 

 illustrates all the peculiarities of this 

 order with great clearness. There are 

 five petals, the upper, which is much 

 the largest bears a strong resemblance 

 to the half expanded wings of a 

 butterfly, because it overshadows or 

 overlaps the others, it is called the 

 vexillum or standard, a lesser one at 

 each side closely enfolding the lower 

 part of the flower are called the alae 

 or wings, whilst the two lower petals 

 are united together, forming a remark- 

 able boat-shaped body called the carina 

 or keel. Closely concealed within the 

 corolla, as in a box, lie the essential 



