Everything about Laburnum totally explained
» For the suburb of Melbourne, see Laburnum, Victoria.:
"Indian laburnum" is the Golden Shower Tree, a distant relative of the genus Laburnum.
Laburnum (also called
Golden Chain) is a genus of two species of small
trees in the subfamily
Faboideae of the pea family
Fabaceae,
Laburnum anagyroides (
Common Laburnum) and
L. alpinum (
Alpine Laburnum). They are native to the mountains of southern
Europe from
France to the
Balkan Peninsula. Some botanists include a third species,
Laburnum caramanicum, but this native of southeast Europe and
Asia Minor is usually treated in a distinct genus
Podocytisus, more closely allied to the
brooms.
They have yellow pea-
flowers in pendulous
racemes 10-30 cm (4-12 in) long in spring, which makes them very popular garden trees. In
L. anagyroides the racemes are 10-20 cm (4-8 in) long, with densely packed flowers; in
L. alpinum the racemes are 20-30 cm (8-12 in) long, but with the flowers sparsely along the raceme.
The leaves are trifoliate, somewhat like a
clover, the leaflets typically 2-3 cm (¾-1¼ in) long in
L. anagyroides and 4-5 cm (1½-2 in) long in
L. alpinum.
Most garden specimens are of the hybrid between the two species,
Laburnum × watereri (
Voss's Laburnum), which combines the longer racemes of
L. alpinum with the denser flowers of
L. anagyroides; it also has the benefit of low seed production (Laburnum seed toxicity is a common cause of poisoning in young children, who mistake the seeds for
peas).
The yellow flowers are responsible for the old poetic name 'golden chain tree' (also spelled golden chaintree or goldenchain tree).
All parts of the plant are
poisonous and can be lethal if consumed in excess. Symptoms of Laburnum poisoning may include intense sleepiness, vomiting, convulsive movements, coma, slight frothing at the mouth and unequally dilated pupils. In some cases, diarrhea is very severe and at times the convulsions are markedly
tetanic. The main toxin in the plant is
Cytisine, a nicotinic receptor agonist.
Despite the plant's toxicity, it's used as a food plant by the
larvae of some
Lepidoptera species including
Buff-tip.
Cultural references
Sylvia Plath referred to the image of the Laburnum tree and "its blond colonnades" in her poem
The Arrival of the Bee Box, first published posthumously in the collection
Ariel (1965).
Oscar Wilde referred to Laburnum in his novel,
The Picture of Dorian Gray, noting the "...honey-sweet and honey-colored blossoms of a laburnum...".
References and external links
Further Information
Get more info on 'Laburnum'.
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