The spectacular springtime show
of yellow flowers gives laburnum its common name is “golden chains” or “golden
rain”. But the laburnum also has its dark side, for it is one of the most
poisonous trees growing in the British Isles. Like so many of the more colorful
trees that grow in Britain, the lovely laburnum is not native to this country.
It comes from the mountainous areas of central and southern Europe and was
familiar to the ancient Romans. A great naturalist, Pliny the Elder, described
it as a “tree from the Alps” with hard white wood and long yellow flowers which
bees will not touch. He was right that honey bees are not attracted to this tree,
because its flowers do not produce nectar. But the wood is not white; the
sapwood is butter yellow and the heartwood is a dark chocolate-brown.
Nevertheless the name laburnum is derived from the Latin for white sapwood.
From its native countries,
laburnum was slowly introduced to the rest of Europe and reached in Britain in
the 2nd half of 16th century. The first laburnum to be
introduced to this country was the common laburnum (laburnum anagyroides). This
was followed about 30 years later by another species laburnum alpinum, which
was found to grow much better than the common laburnum in the harsher
conditions of Scotland. This laburnum is now known as the Scotch laburnum. A
third laburnum, now more widely planted than either of the other two, is Voss’s
laburnum (Laburnum x watereri). This is a hybrid between the common and the
Scotch laburnum and is in many ways superior to them, particularly in its flowers.
It also has a narrower crown, which makes it popular in small garden. All
laburnum species flourish in the British Isles; indeed, they have become
adapted to the British climate better than any other introduced tree. Not
surprisingly, both the common and the Scotch laburnums became naturalized soon
after they were introduced helped also by the fact that both species set seed
abundantly. The best place to see a naturalized laburnum is in wild hilly
country.
Apart from some differences,
laburnums resemble each other closely. They are small trees, growing no more
than 9cm high which is why they have long been popular as street trees and for
planting in small town gardens. The bark is smooth and olive green sometimes
turning brown with age. The trunk is slender, seldom exceeding 30cm in
diameter. The leaves are unusual in that each consists of three short stalked
leaflets laburnum is the only tree commonly grown in the British Isles to have
this leaf arrangement. The leaflets are up to 8cm long; their upper surfaces
are pale green and smooth, the lower surfaces light grey and hairy, however
hairless on the Scotch laburnum.
Moreover, laburnum is a member of
pea family and this is shown in the shape of its flowers. These consist of five
bright yellow petals arranged in typical pea fashion one large standard petal
two wings and two more connected to form a keel. The flowers are borne on long
pendulous racemes that vary in length from 15cm to 30cm. On the Scotch laburnum
the racemes are bit longer than on the common. But they are also narrower and
the flowers are more widely spaces. The Scotch laburnum blooms later around the
end of June, which is about three weeks after the common laburnum. The flowers
of Voss’s laburnum combine the best features of the other two; its racemes are
as long as those of the Scotch laburnum, but the flowers are larger and more
densely borne, like those of the common laburnum.
All plants in the pea family have
their fruits borne in pods. In the case of the laburnum, these pods are
slender, hairy and light green when immature. They turn brown and lose their
hairs as they ripen in July and August. When the pods are ripe they twist and
split along their margins, forcing out the small hard seeds these are black on
the common laburnum and brown on the Scotch laburnum. One or two seeds at the
stalk end of the pod are often left behind if the twisting action was not
strong enough to force them out. If the tree is growing in the wild this has
the advantages of spreading out the interval at which the seeds are
distributed, and so increasing the chances of a seed finding conditions favorable
for germination.
Although the laburnum is widely
planted for its beauty it is nevertheless, an extremely poisonous tree in all
its parts roots, leaves, flowers and seeds. The seeds are particularly
poisonous and every year there are cases of young children falling ill after
eating them. There are also a few cases of cattle being poisoned after browsing
on the pods, though rabbits and hares seem to be unaffected. The poisonous
nature of laburnums is another reason for the popularity of the hybrid Voss’s
laburnum. As well as having prettier flowers than either of the other two, it
produces far fewer seed pods and so attracts children less. The seeds
themselves and other parts of the tree are just as poisonous as on other
laburnums, however. As described above, that all parts of laburnum, especially the
seeds are highly poisonous. Symptoms appear an hour after ingestion. The victim
suffers from a burning sensation in the mouth, nausea, severe thirst, abdominal
pains, sweating and headache; in severe cases death follows. However, it is
very rare chance that children eat a lethal quantity of seeds approximately 15
to 20. Nevertheless, immediate treatment by a doctor is advisable eve if only
one or two have been eaten.
Over the centuries laburnum wood has been
greatly prized by cabinet makers for its hardness and its contrasting colors.
The difference in color between the sapwood and the heartwood has given rise to
what is known in the furniture trade as oyster work. These are small discs or
roundels of wood formed by cutting across a laburnum branch to expose
concentric rings of growth. The inner rings are chocolate brown heartwood and
the 3 or 4 outer rings are butter yellow sapwood. Laburnum branches an also be cut
at an angle to give oval slices. Both sorts of cut are used for decorative
inlay work and veneers. Furniture carrying oyster work was particularly popular
during the reign of William and Mary; today it fetches a high price at
auctions. Laburnum wood is also ideal for turning work fruit bowls, egg cups
and so on since it is hard, close grained and takes a high polish. Pulleys and
blocks made from laburnum last almost forever, and the chanters on Scottish
bagpipes are frequently made from this wood because it can be bored accurately.