BROOM 239 



amidst rocks and stony places ; while the second, Latin 

 in its source, reminds us of the nigrescent character ot 

 the fruit. 



BROOM (Sarothamnus Scoparius) 



The Broom, Sarothamnus scoparius, the subject of Plate 

 XXXV., may be freely met with throughout the British 

 Islands where the conditions are favourable to its well-being. 

 It is equally at home all over Europe, in Northern Africa, 

 and in the west of Asia. All it asks is dry sandy waste 

 o-round, railway banks, commons, hillsides, no matter how 

 sterile and poor the soil, how arid the environment. It 

 will grow, and flourish too, where many plants decline 

 to even exist, on the sand-hills that in many places 

 skirt the sea and are exposed to the full force of the gales. 

 It is therefore planted in Holland and elsewhere, that 

 its roots may assist in binding the loose sand together 

 to form a barrier and a defence against the encroaching 

 sea. On the shores of the Bay of Biscay great plantations 

 of pine-trees have been formed to protect the land in their 

 rear from being overwhelmed by the drifting sand, and 

 the seedling pines are effectually guarded from being buried 

 by being sown behind hedges of broom. It is in Scotland 

 the badge of clan Forbes. 



In the first folio of the Tempest we read, " Now would 

 I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren 

 ground, long heath, browne firrs, anything ; " and it was 

 suggested by Sir Thomas Hanmer in 1774 that what 

 Shakespeare really meant and wrote was " ling, heath, 

 broom, furze," — anything, no matter how humble or how 

 useless, that indicated dry land. 



