Laburnum musical instruments. In addition to such wind instruments as recorders and flutes, it was a popular wood for Great Highland Bagpipes before taste turned to imported dense tropical hardwoods such as "Brya ebenus" (cocus wood), ebony, and "Dalbergia melanoxylon" (African monkeywood). The heart-wood of a laburnum may be used as a substitute for ebony or rosewood. It is very hard and a dark chocolate brown, with a butter-yellow sapwood. "Laburnum" species and hybrids are cultivated as ornamental trees for gardens and parks. They are also trained as espaliers on pergolas, for ceilings of pendant flowers in season. In its natural
HMS Laburnum (1915) of Ireland with the loss of 32 lives. "Laburnum" was one of several ships, also including the seaplane carrier and the sloops and , to go to "Hesperian"s aid. Attempts to tow "Hesperian" to port failed, with the stricken liner sinking on 6 September. The sinking of the "Hesperian", which occurred despite an assurance to US President Woodrow Wilson from the German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg that no passenger liners would be sank without warning, provoked protests from America that resulted in the submarine campaign against merchant shipping in British waters being suspended for several months. On 24 April 1916,