This is one of our most beautiful spring shrubs. It grows on heaths and
by the roadside, and sometimes you will see a low hill covered with it,
and glistening like gold in the sunshine.
The flowers are very like those of the Common Whin, but they are much
larger, and the yellow colour is deeper and more golden.
The petals are shaped the same as in the Common Whin, and if you look at
the green tube into which the stamens are joined, you will see that it
has a curious green thread at the end which is twisted into a curl. The
seeds are in this tube, and when the petals and stamens have all fallen
off, this tube becomes a flat green pod tinged with purple. The curly
green thread still remains at the end.
There are green sepals at the back of the flower which form a cup. This
cup looks as if it was only in two pieces; but, as in the Common Whin,
it is really made up of five sepals, and you can often see five little
teeth at the mouth which show where each sepal begins.
The leaves of the Broom are very small, and they grow in groups of
three. Those close to the flowers have no stalks, but the others have
each a stalk with the three little leaves at the end.