Cytisus demissus Boiss.

A deciduous shrub, low and spreading, usually not more than 3 or 4 in. above the ground; shoots very slender, densely and loosely grey-hairy. Leaves bright green, trifoliolate; leaflets oval, roundish or obovate, 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 in. long, 1⁄12 to 1⁄4 in. wide, hairy especially beneath. Flowers yellow, in clusters of two or three from the terminal leaf-axils, 3⁄4 to 11⁄4 in. long; standard petal 1⁄2 in. across, orbicular; notched; keel rich brown; calyx tubular, 1⁄2 to 5⁄8 in. long, hairy. Blooms in May.

Native of Greece and one of the most charming of dwarf brooms. Admirable for the rock garden. It grows on Mt Olympus at 7,000 to 8,000 ft altitude. The flowers are very large for this type of broom; they become reddish with age and the calyx is reddish. The late Dr Stoker grew it admirably in his garden north of London. Shown by G. P. Baker, Sevenoaks, at Vincent Square, 10th May 1932, it received an Award of Merit. It was originally described by Boissier in his Flora Orientalis in 1872 from specimens found about 1836 by Aucher-Eloy, whom Boissier describes as ‘that hardy and courageous explorer whose adventurous travels in Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor, etc., had for their sole motive his love of plants and science’. He discovered this cytisus on the slopes of Mt Olympus, where it has since been again collected by the late Dr Guiseppi.