Cytisus albus Hacq.

A dwarf shrub of spreading habit 4 to 10 in. high, deciduous, with round hairy branchlets. Leaves trifoliolate, with a hairy main-stalk 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long; leaflets about 1⁄2 in. long, obovate or narrow elliptic, almost glabrous above, clothed beneath with appressed hairs. Flowers closely packed in a terminal cluster, yellowish white, six to ten in each cluster. The flower is 3⁄4 in. long, but the petals do not expand fully through being clasped by the large hairy calyx 1⁄3 in. long. Pod 3⁄4 in. long, compressed, shaggy, containing two to five seeds.

Native of south-east and east Central Europe and S. Poland; introduced about 1806, but was afterwards completely lost sight of in gardens; about 1890 it was again introduced from the Balkan Mountains, and having been found on the Shipka Pass, it was distributed from nurseries under the name of C. schipkaensis, without its identity with the old leucanthus being noticed. More recently, the rules of nomenclature have dictated that the name C. albus of Hacquet should be used for this species. For the broom long grown in gardens as “C. albus”, see C. multiflorus (syn. C. albus Link, not Hacquet). It flowers best in June and July, but continues until October to produce odd clusters. It is not one of the prettiest of dwarf brooms, but flowers later than most of them. It may be used as a carpeting beneath thinly planted, taller shrubs, or in small patches in the rock garden. It belongs to the Supinus group.