Laburnum anagyroides plant contain cytisine and are poisonous if consumed. The wood is hard and heavy, of a yellow/brown colour, ideal for making posts, for woodturning and as fuel. In the past (and today on historic re-enactments) it was used for making bows. The tree is also known as "false ebony" since the wood from very old specimens could be used in place of ebony. "Laburnum anagyroides" is cultivated as an ornamental tree. The most common ornamental plant in the genus is a hybrid between this species and "Laburnum alpinum" — Laburnum × watereri. The English poet Francis Thompson described the "laburnum"
Flowers Are Red original version is excerpted. The song tells the story of a little boy who on the first day of school started drawing pictures of flowers using many different colors. The teacher (sung by Chapin in a falsetto voice) tells him that he should not be coloring because it is not time for art, and in any case, the boy is coloring the flowers all wrong and that he should paint them red and green, "the way they always have been seen." The boy disagrees and continues to color them from his imagination until the teacher punishes him by standing him