178 LEGUMINOS^ 



The usual heignt of the Broom is from three to six feet, but on some 

 spots it grows much higher, and its stem becomes of considerable thickness. 

 Mr. Johnston, in writing to his friend John Ray, describes one of these 

 plants in his day. "Near Kendal," he says, "I saw to my great wonder a 

 broom-tree, if I may so call it, adorned with very fine flowers, and its stem 

 thicker than my leg ; a very fair spectacle !" The plant grows well on dry 

 hilly plains, and it is largely planted about Ghent, in order to improve the 

 dry sandy soils, and hold them well together by its roots. Several of the 

 species are serviceable in this respect, and the One-seeded Broom {Genista 

 monosperma) is very valuable on the shores of Barbary, Egypt, Portugal, 

 Spain, and some other countries, where it converts the barren soils into 

 fragrant and beautiful spots like gardens. It spreads over most extensive 

 districts, and is called by the Spaniards by its old Arabic name, Boetum. 

 Professor Burnett remarks, "Several other Genistse are sand-fixing plants, 

 and hence, perhaps, the final cause of their little importance to man, directly 

 as food or medicine, may be perceived ; as they thus escape his aggressions, 

 and are allowed uninterruptedly to pursue their constant labours as Nature's 

 pioneers, to the best advantage." 



Bees are very fond of the broom flowers, but they get nothing but pollen 

 for their pains, for the flower produces no honey. The young flower-buds 

 of the plant, gathered just as they are becoming yellow, and pickled, make 

 a good substitute for capers. The young shoots have from time immemorial 

 been used by country people as a cure for dropsy, and Dr. Cullen highly 

 recommends this decoction. Every part of the plant, seeds, leaves, flowers, 

 root, had, according to the old herbalists, some peculiar virtues, and were 

 praised in their quaint statements for " helping pains," " altering fits of the 

 ague," and curing gout, and many an other ill ; while an oil procured from 

 the green stalks, when heated by the fire, Avas pronounced an infallible cure 

 for the toothache, the malady which, according to Shakspere, not even the 

 philosopher could endure patiently. The plant yields, when burnt, a good 

 alkaline salt, and its name indicates one of its uses for domestic purposes. 

 One of the old writers on plants says, " To spend time in writing a descrip- 

 tion of the plant is altogether needless, it being so generally used by all good 

 housewives, almost throughout the land, to sweep their houses with, and 

 therefore very well known to all sorts of people." The French also term it 

 Genet cl halai. The wood, when old, furnishes to the cabinet-maker an excel- 

 lent material for veneering, and the young boughs may be used in tanning 

 leather. The branches have when bruised a disagreeable odour, which, 

 Mr. Curtis remarks, is the cause probably why they are rejected by cattle. 

 They have also an unpleasant and bitter flavour, but the goats browse freely 

 upon the young shoots. This plant is believed to be the Cytisus of Virgil, 

 and the genus was so called by Linntcus. 



Willsford in his "Nature's Secrets" says, "The Broom having plenty of 

 blossoms, or the Walnut-tree, is a signe of a fruitfull yeare of corne ;" and 

 he adds that great store of nuts and almonds, especially filberts, afford a like 

 assurance. 



The Broom, formerly called Planta genista, was the Gen of the Celts, and 

 the Genet of the French. It was the badge of a long race of British kings, 



