laburnumn.
/ləˈbəːnəm/, U.S. /ləˈbərnəm/ 1. Either of two small trees having trifoliolate leaves and pendulous racemes of bright yellow flowers followed by long seed pods, Laburnum anagyroides and Laburnum alpinum (family Leguminosae ( Papilionoideae)), native to central and southern Europe but widely cultivated elsewhere (sometimes as hybrids between the two species); (in form Laburnum) the genus comprising these trees. Also: the hard dark wood of these trees, used esp. in joinery.Common names for the laburnums include golden chain, golden rain, and (formerly) bean-trefoil. Their seeds and other parts contain the toxic alkaloid cytisine, in quantities potentially lethal to small children and livestock.Valid publication of the genus name: F. K. Medikus 1787, in Vorlesungen der Churpfälzischen physikalisch-ökon. Gesellschaft 2 362, after earlier use as a genus name by P. K. Fabricius ( Enum. Meth. Plant. Hort. Med. Helmstadiensis (1759) 228), and as a specific epithet (in Cytisus laburnum) by Linnaeus (1753).
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > tree or shrub groups > laburnum > [noun]
laburnum1567
awber1684
Scotch laburnum1776
pea tree1822
golden chain1825
gold chain1841
false ebony1892
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular timber trees or shrubs > [noun] > laburnum as timber tree
laburnum1567
awber1684
Scotch laburnum1776
pea tree1822
false ebony1892
1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest ii. f. 49 Laburnum is a tree growing vppon the Mountaines called the Alpes.
1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. lxxiv. 1258 The first kinde of Anagyris, or Laburnum, groweth like vnto a small tree, garnished with many small branches.., set full of pale greene leaues, alwaies three togither..: among which come foorth many tufts of flowers, of a yellow colour, not much vnlike the flowers of Broome.
1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole 438 The greater Laburnum is not so easily to be had.
1682 G. Wheler Journey into Greece iv. 290 The Flowers [of Anagyris fœtida] also grow out in little bunches, like the other Laburnum but larger.
1753 R. Dodsley Public Virtue i. ii. 50 To th' enchanted eye Mezereon's purple, Laurustinus's white, and pale Laburnum's pendent flowers display Their different beauties.
1785 W. Cowper Task vi. 149 Laburnum, rich In streaming gold.
1817 J. Keats Poems 55 Where the dark-leav'd laburnum's drooping clusters Reflect athwart the stream their yellow lustres.
1838 J. C. Loudon Arboretum II. xli. 592 Hop-poles..are said, when formed of laburnum, to be more durable than those of almost any other kind of wood.
1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam lxxxi. 113 Laburnums, dropping-wells of fire. View more context for this quotation
1914 W. J. Bean Trees & Shrubs Hardy in Brit. Isles II. 1 Few trees..are so beautiful as the two common laburnums.
1947 A. L. Howard Trees in Brit. 134 In earlier times..British-grown laburnum was greatly prized for inlay, turnery and cabinet work.
1974 W. Condry Woodlands xiv. 154 There are long stretches of hedge that are almost purely laburnum which make a marvellous show in June when they are hung with golden chains of blossom.
1993 D. Jones in J. M. Fladmark Heritage: Conservation, Interpr. & Enterprise xxvi. 327 (caption) Late 18th or early 19th Century laburnum splat-backed chair from Fife.
2015 Church Times 22 May 40/3 The laburnums will bloom any minute now.
2. Chiefly with distinguishing word: any of various other leguminous trees or plants, typically having flowers thought to resemble those of a laburnum.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > names applied to various species of trees or shrubs > [noun]
purslanec1400
mast tree1597
laburnum1693
whitebark1700
jatropha1754
quince1794
honey bush1813
snake-wood1832
ake1835
akeake1841
fire tree1851
flame-tree1866
subtree1878
1693 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 17 688 The Thora-Paerou or Cajan-Tree, an arborescent Phaseolus or Laburnum, much cultivated at the Cape, affording a most refreshing Pulse to the Sea-men.
1830 Courier (Hobart, Tasmania) 1 Apr. 3/1 A new species of cytisus called the ‘red laburnum’ has recently been introduced to the English gardens and pleasure grounds, which with its large clusters of red flowers forms a striking ornament.
1866 G. F. Angas Polynesia 51 Along the banks of the rivers, the ‘kowai’ or ‘native laburnum’, displays its profusion of golden blossom.
1880 J. Britten & R. Holland Dict. Eng. Plant-names 293 Laburnum, Wild, Melilotus officinalis, L. Surr. (neighbourhood of London).
1895 Agric. Gaz. New S. Wales 6 671 African Acacia (Cassia laevigata)..isn't African, and isn't an Acacia... It is sometimes known as ‘Laburnum’.
1898 E. E. Morris Austral Eng. Laburnum, Native, the Tasmanian Clover-tree, Goodenia lotifolia..Laburnum, Sea-coast, also called Golden Chain, Sophora tomentosa.
1905 E. L. M. White My N.Z. Garden 92 The New Zealand Laburnum (Sophora tetraptera), (Yellow Kowhai) is a splendid deep yellow, with much larger flowers and calix than the English Laburnum.
1940 E. R. Spencer Just Weeds 136 Other common names [of sweet clover] are King's clover, Plaster clover.., Sweet Lucerne, Wild laburnum, and Hart's clover.
1963 E. H. Schafer Golden Peaches of Samarkand xi. 189 ‘Indian laburnum’, or ‘golden shower’, or more prosaically ‘purging cassia’,..which has beautiful flowers and bright red seeds in long pods.
1991 Weekend Post (Port Elizabeth) 23 Feb. (Leisure) 7 By using some of the faster-growing kinds like..Calpurnia (Cape laburnum)..create a micro-climate favourable for the cultivation of the others.
2011 Pharmacognosy Jrnl. 13 13/1 Botanical name: Cassia sieberiana... Common English name: West African laburnum, drumstick tree.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as laburnum chain, laburnum tree, etc.
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1629 J. Parkinson Paradisi in Sole 574 The blossomes are very small,..growing on small long branches, very like the toppe of flowers vpon the Laburnum or Beane trefoile trees.
1726 B. Whitmill Kalendarium Universale 53 The Laburnum-Tree may be easily rais'd from Seeds sown in this Month, and transplanted two Years after come up.
1790 Aberdeen Mag. 11 Feb. 87/2 Laburnum-trees have put out and expanded their young leaves.
1812 E. Sang Nicol's Planter's Kalendar v. 91 The Laburnum timber which brought so high a price was of the variety called the Tree Laburnum.
1899 Daily News 23 May 2/3 The laburnum chains are dwarfed.
1952 P. Mann Systematics Flowering Plants (1963) ii. 129 Peloria sometimes occurs in the terminal flowers of the Laburnum inflorescence.
1975 Times 15 Jan. 17/6 An early eighteenth-century oyster walnut and laburnum cabinet.
2011 Guardian 29 Sept. 11/1 Their success is down to the active ingredient cytisine, which is derived from laburnum seeds.
C2. Similative, forming nouns and adjectives, as laburnum gold, laburnum-leaved, laburnum yellow, etc.
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1691 Hist. Learning xi. 45 A pretty kind of Phaseole with Laburnum-Leaves, and solitary Flowers, a crooked pod in Figure of a Turkish Cymiter.
1778 W. Malcolm Catal. Hot-house & Green-house Plants 8 Crotalaria, Laburniifolia, Laburnum-leaved Crotolaria.
1869 R. F. Burton Explor. Highlands Brazil II. xxvii. 417 As on the uplands of the Rio das Velhas the characteristic colour of the flowers is a laburnum yellow.
1874 Aldine 7 101/3 The ox-eye daisies and the melilot have encamped on all the waste, sandy places—the latter a vetch, with flowers a laburnum yellow.
1899 Daily News 27 Feb. 6/6 Rose-pinks, laburnum-yellows, leaf-greens.
1921 H. De V. Stacpoole Satan xxviii. 238 The great sun..lolled above the reef in a sky of laburnum gold fading to aquamarine.
1981 J. Cooper Love & other Heartaches 188 Kate felt she would like to have taken Georgie's laburnum yellow locks..and wound them round her throat and strangled her.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2017; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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