Its hanging chains of yellow pea flowers are a highlight of late spring, but the black seeds are poisonous
Laburnum.
Nature · Trees
Laburnum
Neophyte (garden tree since the 16th century) · deciduous to 8 m · gardens, parks and roadsides
Laburnum anagyroides — Fabaceae
The golden chain tree of early summer: a small south European tree whose hanging yellow flower chains make it one of the best-loved garden trees in Britain. Every part of it is poisonous, above all the black seeds in pea-like pods, which contain the alkaloid cytisine. It occasionally self-sows but is not considered invasive.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Dense hanging chains (racemes) of golden-yellow pea flowers, late spring to early summer
- ▸Leaves made of three oval leaflets (trifoliate), silky beneath
- ▸Pods like flat, hairy peapods that ripen brown, with small black seeds
- ▸Smooth, greenish-brown bark; a small, spreading tree
- ▸Look-alike: wisteria is a climber with pinnate leaves and mauve chains; golden rain tree (Koelreuteria) has pinnate leaves and yellow panicles in July. Only laburnum has three-leaflet leaves.
How to know it
Leaves made of three oval leaflets and pods full of black seeds that contain the alkaloid cytisine
Laburnum.
A famous 55-metre tunnel of it at Bodnant Garden in Wales is one of the spring sights of Britain
Laburnum.
Harmful if eaten, according to the RHS; every part of this garden tree is toxic
Laburnum.
A famous graft chimaera, Adam's version, blends this tree with a purple broom
Laburnum. +Laburnocytisus 'Adamii'.
Its dark heartwood has been used as a substitute for ebony
Laburnum.
Quick-fire facts
- •Laburnum anagyroides — from the Latin laburnum for the tree; anagyroides means resembling Anagyris (a stinking Mediterranean shrub)
- •Family Fabaceae; native to the mountains of southern and central Europe; not native to Britain and Ireland (RHS)
- •All parts are poisonous; the seeds contain the alkaloid cytisine (RHS: harmful if eaten)
- •Voss's laburnum (L. × watereri) is a hybrid of common and Scottish/alpine laburnum with longer chains and fewer seeds
- •Adam's laburnum is a graft chimaera between laburnum and purple broom
- •The Laburnum Arch at Bodnant Garden, Conwy, is a celebrated garden feature
- •RHS: may be susceptible to powdery mildews, silver leaf and honey fungus; aphids and leaf-mining moths
- •Not treated as invasive; occasional self-sown seedlings
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