# Laburnum (Laburnum anagyroides) *Yellow laburnum, golden chain, bean trefoil; Gerard’s *Anagyris*; *Cytisus laburnum* L., now *Laburnum anagyroides** **Known today as.** *Laburnum anagyroides*, of the family Leguminosae, a small tree native to the mountains of France, Switzerland, and southern Germany, grown everywhere for its pendent clusters of golden-yellow flowers in early spring, followed by brown pods of seeds. Its dark heartwood is hard and durable and was prized by turners, sometimes stained to imitate ebony. The poison is the alkaloid cytisine, discovered in its seeds in the 1860s by Husemann and Marmé; Grieve writes that all parts of the plant are probably poisonous. Kind: Plant Poisoning: Nicotinic poisoning (coniine, nicotine, cytisine) (https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/poisons/nicotinic) Deadly: yes > **Deadly.** Poisonous. Grieve warns that children should never touch the black seeds, “as cases of poisoning after eating the seeds have been frequent,” and that cattle and horses browsing its foliage and pods have died. She lists the symptoms of poisoning by root or seeds as intense sleepiness, vomiting, convulsive movements, coma, slight frothing at the mouth, and unequally dilated pupils, sometimes with severe diarrhoea and tetanic convulsions. King’s gives a similar picture, drowsiness, vomiting, vertigo, cold sweats, pain, and dilated pupils, but recorded no human death in 1898, and it kills dogs and cats. ## What was it used for? A poison rather than a medicine. King’s Dispensatory of 1898 records that Dr. Gray recommended its active principles for dyspepsia with bilious vomiting, the vomiting of children and of pregnancy, bronchial cough, and asthma, but adds that later trials did not support these recommendations. Grieve notes that cytisine was recommended in whooping cough and asthma, and that a 1916 trial of it against lice found it too dangerous to use, since the concentration needed risked absorption through the skin “with almost certain toxic consequences.” ## What does modern science say? The herb has no modern medicinal use in the sources read for this entry, but its alkaloid has one. Cytisine, which Grieve notes acts much like nicotine, is now used to help people stop smoking: a 2024 meta-analysis found that people taking it were significantly more likely to quit than those given placebo or usual care, and more likely than those given nicotine replacement, with mostly mild side effects such as abnormal dreams, nausea, and headache. A 2026 commentary records that the World Health Organization has added it to its Model List of Essential Medicines. These findings concern the purified alkaloid as a licensed medicine, not any preparation of the tree. ## Pharmacognosy and toxicology - **cytisine**: the poisonous alkaloid of the seeds, discovered by Husemann and Marmé; its action, Grieve notes, resembles nicotine’s **Mechanism.** Cytisine is a partial agonist of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, the 2024 meta-analysis records, and is used as such to help people stop smoking. **Standing.** No medicinal use of the tree. Its alkaloid cytisine is on the WHO Model List of Essential Medicines as an aid to stopping smoking. ## What did the older authorities say? **Grieve, *A Modern Herbal* (1931).** It reached England before 1597, when Gerard grew it in his garden under the names of *Anagyris*, Laburnum, and Bean Trefoil. Grieve also tells of the purple laburnum, a graft hybrid raised in Paris in 1828 by M. Adam, on which the branches below the graft bore yellow flowers and those above small purple ones, and sometimes one cluster bore both. ## Sources - Grieve, M. *A Modern Herbal*, “Laburnum.” As published on botanical.com. - Felter, H. W., & Lloyd, J. U. (1898). *King’s American Dispensatory*, vol. 2, “Laburnum.” Internet Archive, kingsamericandis02kinguoft. - Puljević C, et al. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analyses of cytisine to support tobacco cessation. *Addiction (Abingdon, England)*. PMID 38965792. - Polosa R & Cohen G (2026). Rediscovering cytisine: Why the WHO's decision matters for global public health. *iScience*. PMID 41736855. - Grieve, M. *A Modern Herbal*, “Laburnum.” As published on botanical.com. - Felter, H. W., & Lloyd, J. U. (1898). *King’s American Dispensatory*, vol. 2, “Laburnum.” Internet Archive, kingsamericandis02kinguoft. - Puljević C, et al. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analyses of cytisine to support tobacco cessation. *Addiction (Abingdon, England)*. PMID 38965792. - Polosa R & Cohen G (2026). Rediscovering cytisine: Why the WHO's decision matters for global public health. *iScience*. PMID 41736855. --- *Laburnum.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-10-17. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/laburnum Historical description, not medical advice.