Laburnum,
commonly called Golden Chain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the
subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are Laburnum
Anagyroides- common laburnum and Laburnum Alpinum –alpine laburnum. They are
native to the mountains of southern Europe from France to the Balkan Peninsula.
The yellow flowers are responsible
for the old poetic name ‘The Golden Chain Tree’. They have yellow
The laburnum trees are deciduous.
The leaves are trifoliate, like a clover; the leaflets are typically 2-3cm
long.
They have yellow pea flowers in
pendulous racemes 10-30 cm long in spring, which makes them very popular garden
trees.