Flora of North America species comparison

The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Laburnum

golden-chain tree
Habit Trees or shrubs, unarmed.
Stems

erect, young growth appressed-pubescent, glabrescent, or glabrous.
Leaves

alternate, palmate;

stipules present, minute;

petiolate;

leaflets 3, subsessile, stipels absent, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous or pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially.
Inflorescences

20–50-flowered, axillary, racemes, pendulous [erect];

bracts present;

bracteoles near midpoint of pedicel, subopposite.
Flowers

papilionaceous;

calyx zygomorphic, campanulate, bilabiate, lobes 5;

corolla yellow, glabrous, banner ovate or orbiculate, keel shorter than wings;

stamens 10, monadelphous;

anthers dimorphic, shorter ones versatile, alternate, longer ones basifixed, dehiscing apically;

ovary stipitate;

style glabrous;

stigma terminal.
Fruits

legumes, stipitate, pendulous, subterete, weakly torulose, narrowly ellipsoid to oblong [oblong-linear], indehiscent, constricted between seeds, fleshy, pubescent.
Seeds

[1]2–4(–8), reniform-compressed;

hilum lateral.
x

= 10.

Laburnum
Distribution
from USDA
s Europe; w Asia; n Africa [Introduced in North America; introduced also nearly worldwide in temperate areas]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 3 (2, including 1 hybrid, in the flora).

Laburnum includes three Old World species and one hybrid. Laburnum alpinum (Miller) Berchtold & J. Presl, a native of southern Europe (leaves and fruits glabrous), is cultivated in North America and is not reported to escape; it forms a hybrid with L. anagyroides called L. × watereri. The remaining species sometimes placed in Laburnum, L. caramanicum (Boissier & Heldrich) Bentham & Hooker f., is a shrub native to Greece and southwest Asia that has been infrequently cultivated in the southern United States. It is readily distinguished from other Laburnum by having upright versus pendulous racemes and usually is treated in a disti

In Laburnum, all parts of the plants are toxic and can be lethal if consumed in excess (D. Frohne and H. J. Pfander 2004). The main toxins are a series of quinolizidine alkaloids of the cytisine type.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaflet blades appressed silky-pubescent abaxially; young growth appressed-pubescent; pedicels (4–)8–15 mm; legumes densely appressed-pubescent.
L. anagyroides
1. Leaflet blades glabrous or glabrescent abaxially; young growth glabrescent or glabrous; pedicels 4–9 mm; legumes sparsely appressed-pubescent.
Laburnum × watereri
Source FNA vol. 11. Authors: Gordon C. Tucker, Zachary E. Guthrie.
Parent taxa Fabaceae > subfam. Faboideae
Subordinate taxa
L. anagyroides, Laburnum × watereri
Name authority Fabricius: Enum., 228. (1759)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



Type/paste one or more Latin names into the boxes above; matching taxa will show up below the box as you type. You can use the up/down arrow keys to move through the list.

(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

Choose a data source: Flora of North America, OregonFlora, UW Burke Herbarium

The species comparison tool is brought to you by:
Northwest Wildflowers