Talk:Laburnum

First comment
Here is a fascinating observation: My friend pointed out that his Golden Chain Tree was raining! I looked up through the branches and could see a continuous light mist and larger droplets filling the air beneath the tree. The droplets tasted of pure water. Has anyone else noticed this phenomena? We are experiencing record high temperatures here in Olympia, WA - high 90s to 101F with very little humidity, appx 40 - 50%. The tree is not in unusual soil or location and is appx 30 years old.


 * As the plant is toxic, tasting droplets exuded from it is probably a bad idea! Moonraker12 (talk) 14:52, 28 May 2009 (UTC)
 * (But interesting all the same. Moonraker12 (talk) 14:52, 28 May 2009 (UTC))

Toxicity
What order of magnitude are we talking about as to lethal dosage and "excessive consumption" of the cytisine in this tree? Ten leaves or one tenth of a leave? Are the effects of cytisine similar to those of nicotine also in that, like nicotine, it works as a stimulant in small doses and in larger ones as a depressant? Barnsoldat91 (talk) 20:32, 30 March 2009 (UTC)


 * There is a report here; the given dosage is 0.5mg/Kg, ie 3-4g for an adult, but the report also concludes "In everyday practice laburnum does not behave as ferociously as a poison among children taking it accidentally as is generally thought". I'll try and incorporate it into the article sometime. Moonraker12 (talk) 14:49, 28 May 2009 (UTC)


 * This site http://apps.kew.org/trees/?page_id=106 says 15-20 seeds are lethal. If someone would like to incorporate it. MidlandLinda (talk) 22:39, 10 February 2011 (UTC)


 * From personal experience when9 yrs old I ate I think 8 and my neighbor ate 22, he was unconscious and had to have stomach pumped but recovered. I was dozy for some hours. I have no idea what treatment I got. That was 62 years ago. But this rather confirms the kew report above. Nickfixit (talk) 15:48, 17 May 2015 (UTC) Nickfixit.

There is an article from The Lancet (respected UK medical periodical) dated 1979, the abstract of which states "It is suggested that laburnum is not as dangerous as has been thought". I don't have access to the full article. My daughter as a child once ate some (I'm sure not more than 10) laburnam seeds at my parents' house. Father was a paediatrician, and was fairly unconcerned, but contacted the UK poisons advice service who were also not very worried, and daughter showed no effects at all. This matches some of the other comments above. So I think the statement that the fruit is "extremely" poisonous should be reworded by someone with access to a good reference.Newburyjohn (talk) 22:39, 4 June 2018 (UTC)
 * Laburnum pods certainly did for my pet rabbit when I was small. A human would be unlikely to eat a fatal quantity though, as they aren't very appealing. --Ef80 (talk) 15:26, 28 April 2020 (UTC)

Comment
I see no mention of Legumes regarding Laburnums —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.251.187.10 (talk) 22:05, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Cultural References
the reference to Laburnum trees lining Laburnum Ave in Richmond Virginia rings false to me. Having lived in this neighborhood for nearly 10 years, I have never noticed trees with yellow blooms lining this particular roadway. Not sure if this tree could thrive quite so far North anyway. What is the source of this particular cultural reference? my guess is simply an assumption on somebody's part that a street named Laburnum Ave would have been named for Laburnum trees nearby instead of the actual source of the street name (taking its name from the name of a nearby mansion built by wealthy Richmond citizen Joseph Bryan in the late 19th century)

Ken &amp; Amy (talk) 21:47, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Golden Chain?
'Commonly called Golden Chain'? Not in Britain they're not. These trees are universally known as Laburnums and I'd never heard of 'Golden Chain' before reading it here. If this is just American usage the article should say so. --Ef80 (talk) 18:37, 20 May 2010 (UTC).But everybody is saying SANJAY is a pottan

You are quite correct, Laburnum is never ever called "Golden Chain" in Britain. Golden Chain is the literal English translation of its common European name. For instance in German its called "Golden Chain". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.148.32.91 (talk) 11:42, 25 April 2014 (UTC)
 * I've changed 'commonly' to 'sometimes', which is less open to dispute. I still think Golden Chain must be an American thing (maybe via German immigrants) but don't have a ref to add this to the article. --Ef80 (talk) 18:41, 16 May 2016 (UTC)

Genetics?
Do laburnums come in different colours? If so why have I never seen one? If not, why not? Wisteria comes in different colours and is of the same family. Also there is a laburnum in my garden that always has as many seeds as flowers but it's flower chains are long and dense, could a hybrid still have lots of fruit?

193.120.102.73 (talk) 18:34, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

As far as I know the flowers do not come in "different colours" - never seen or read of one!Osborne 15:17, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

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