Re: laburnum

I haven't taken part in this discussion yet, but would like to add that
there were laburnums in Danish gardens when we lived there. We were
cautioned that they were poisonous, and that I should watch my children
when they played in the garden. 
I have always wondered about the soil they need, as well as the climate.
I was told that there was no place in Denmark further than 40 miles from
the water, and we did have moist air and a lovely light which I felt was
reflection from the water (Bornholm had it especially). In some places
the soil was chalky, a vein that ran from the island of Mon across Denmark
to the Dover Cliffs. Is this why they are more successful there?
To add another element. I have been told that Embothrium is not success-
fully grown in the San Francisco Bay Area because it needs moist air too.
Could this be the reason?
Elly Bade

On Wed, 4 Oct 2000, Nick Turland wrote:

> > There used to be lots of laburnums in Victoria, and regular reports 
> > in the newspaper of poisoning because children would eat the "beans" 
> > in the pods.  I pulled mine out about 20 years ago, and I continue to pull
> > out the seedlings that are still coming up.  I suspect that other people
> > deliberately destroyed theirs, too, because I don't see them much anymore.
> > 
> > Diane Whitehead  Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
> > zone 8, Sunset zone 5, cool mediterranean climate
> 
> Laburnums, yes, I'm sure they prefer a cool, oceanic climate. The only 
> healthy one I've seen in the U.S. was on the north coast of the Olympic 
> Peninsula in Washington State, just across the strait from Diane in Victoria, 
> B.C.
> 
> When I was a child in England, my parents had a large laburnum in their 
> back yard. They were anxious about me eating the poisonous seeds and 
> must have impressed on me the danger most effectively as I can still 
> remember walking under the branches with my face down and my mouth 
> tightly in case any of the poisionous seeds should fall into my mouth! Pretty 
> wierd, huh?
> 
> And yes, the seedings came up everywhere!
> 
> Nick
> 
> Nick Turland
> Flora of China Project, Missouri Botanical Garden, 
> P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A.
> E-mail: Nicholas.Turland@mobot.org
> Phone: +1 314 577 0269  Fax: +1 314 577 9438
> MBG web: http://www.mobot.org
> FOC web: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/
> 
>
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