Golden Chain Tree {Laburnum alpinum} Ornamental Showy | Bonsai favorite | 20 seeds Free Shipping US seller Laburnum alpinum (Scottish Laburnum) is a leguminous flowering tree. It flowers in late spring, bearing panicles of yellow pea-like flowers. Gorgeous yellow flowers in 15" pendulous clusters in May, beautifully displayed against deep green leaves, few trees are more lovely in flower, small, short-trunked tree or large shrub, seeds poisonous if eaten. A very tolerant and easily grown plant, it succeeds in almost any soil or situation so long as it is not water-logged. It grows well in heavy clay soils and in poor shallow limestone soils. Succeeds in cold exposed situations and tolerates industrial pollution. Small specimen tree or shrub for location around residential homes. Shrub borders. Group as a shrub to maximize effect of the spring bloom. Good background plant. A deciduous tree 20 ft (rarely 30 ft) high, with usually a short, sturdy trunk. Young stems green, with a few spreading hairs at first, later glabrous. Leaves trifoliolate, with a stalk 1 to 2 in. long; leaflets oval or obovate, 2 to 4 in. long, deep green, not so downy beneath as in L. anagyroides. Racemes pendulous, slender, 10 to 15 in. long, carrying numerous golden-yellow flowers, each 3?4 in. long on a thin stalk 1?4 to 1?2 in. long; both the flower-stalks and the main-stalk of the raceme are glabrous or thinly downy. Seed-pods 2 to 3 in. long, flat, with the upper seam (suture) distinctly winged and forming a knife-like edge, glabrous. Scarification: Pour boiling water over seed , repeat process on seed that did not imbibe; Seed coat may require filing or sanding to allow water infiltration~.Stratification: none required, hard seed coat must be reduced by scarification~. Germination: sow seed 1/4" deep, tamp the soil, mulch the seed bed. Other: if boiling water treatment does not allow seed to imbibe, sulfuric acid treatment is can also be used in place of filing sanding.