Laburnum in "L. anagyroides" and long in "L. alpinum". They have yellow pea-flowers in pendulous leafless racemes long in spring, which makes them very popular garden trees. In "L. anagyroides", the racemes are long, with densely packed flowers; in "L. alpinum" the racemes are long, but with the flowers sparsely along the raceme. The fruit develops as a pod and is extremely poisonous. The yellow flowers are responsible for the old poetic name 'golden chain tree' (also spelled golden chaintree or goldenchain tree). All parts of the plant are poisonous, although mortality is very rare. Symptoms of laburnum poisoning may include
Hymenodictyon parvifolium skin diseases, venereal diseases and dysentery. A decoction of plant parts is drunk by children experiencing breathing difficulty. Its roots are used for snake bites and as a purgative. 'Hymeno'= membrane, and refers to the thin wing around each seed - 'dictyon'= reticulate pattern or network - 'parvifolium'= small leaf. Hymenodictyon parvifolium Hymenodictyon parvifolium Oliv. is a small rubiaceous African tree and is one of some 24 species in the genus, with a tropical African and Asian distribution. This species grows as a small tree to some 5 metres tall, or sometimes a liane or scrambler to 10.5 m, and