608 



SPA 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



SPA 



6. Spartiura Purgans ; Purging Broom. Branches round, 

 striated; leaves lanceolate, subsessile, pubescent; stalks 

 striated, taper, four feet high; flowers in spikes, terminating, 

 large, and pale yellow. Native of the south of France, the 

 county of Nice, of Arragon in Spain, and of Japan. Treat 

 it in the same manner as the fourth species. 



7. Spartium Aphyllum; Leafless Broom. Branches round, 

 striated, smooth, rod-like ; leaves very short, linear, propped ; 

 flowers small, dull violet, pedicelled, forming a raceme on 

 the side of the branchlets. Found in the driving sands of 

 the Wolga Deserts. 



8. Spartium Virgaium ; Twiggy Broom. Branches round, 

 striated; leaves lanceolate, oblong, silky; calices funnel- 

 form, two-lipped, rough-haired ; standard and keel pubescent. 

 It is a shrub, about three feet high, with a trunk of about a 

 finger's thickness, divided into numerous branches. The 

 flowers are yellow, and sweet-scented. It flowers from March 

 to June. Native of the island of Madeira. 



9. Spartium Decumbens ; Trailing Broom. Stem decum- 

 bent, branched; leaves solitary, ovate; flowers on long pedun- 

 cles. Flowers smaller by half than in the Common Broom, 

 and less placed on one side. It flowers here in May and 

 June. Found in Burgundy and Switzerland. For its culture, 

 see the third species. 



10. Spartium Scorpius; Scorpion Broom. Branches spiny, 

 spreading ; leaves ovate. The whole shrub is covered with 

 alternate spines, on which the flowers are placed ; these 

 spines render it quite inaccessible. The flowers are yellow, 

 and rather large: they appear in March and April. Native 

 of the south of Europe and of Barbary. To be cultivated in 

 the same manner as the third species. 



11. Spartium Aspalathoides ; Tubercular Thorny Broom. 

 Branchlets bowed, smooth, tubercled, flower-bearing ; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate ; flowers axillary, pedicelled ; calix three- 

 parted ; corollas silky. This is a very branching shrub. 

 Native of Barbary. See the fourth species. 



12. Spartium Multiflorum ; Portuguese White Broom. 

 Leaves ternate or simple, silky; shoots strict, striated, flow- 

 ering on every side. This shrub is very much branched. 

 Flowers in long lateral racemes, so numerous that it seems 

 wholly covered with them; standard of the corolla erect, not 

 reflex, involute, beautifully marked with purple lines radiating 

 from the base; the rest of the corolla white. Native of 

 Portugal and Mount Atlas. See the third species. 



13. Spartium Angulatum ; Angular-branched Broom. 

 Leaves ternate and solitary; branches hexangular, flowering 

 at the end ; flowers small, of a pale yellow colour, produced 

 in loose spikes at the end of the branches, which, as well as 

 the stalks, are slender. Native of the Levant. 



14. Spartium Scoparium ; Common Broom. Leaves ter- 

 nate and solitary; branches unarmed, angular; flowers axil- 

 lary, solitary ; legumes ciliate. This grows from three to 

 six feet high, and is very much branched ; leaves deciduous, 

 smooth or somewhat hairy ; flowers loosely pendulous, on 

 long stalks ; corolla large, handsome, of a fine gold colour, 

 sometimes tinged with orange or tawny on the outside, and 

 sometimes, but less often, wholly lemon-coloured ; legume 

 compressed, two inches long, smooth, fringed at the margin 

 with dense deciduous hairs ; seeds as many as eighteen or 

 twenty, small, of an oblong-elliptic form, compressed, glossy, 

 dingy yellow, beaked above the navel, with a short point. It 

 met its a place among our flowering shrubs, especially the 

 variety with a purple calix, and the flowers strongly tinged 

 with orange. There is another variety much more hoary than 

 usual. But even in its common state, such is the profusion 

 of golden-coloured blossoms with which its branches are 



loaded in summer, and such the verdure of its twigs in win- 

 ter, that it may vie with most of the foreign Brooms, and is 

 superior to some of them as an ornamental shrub. Common 

 on sandy or gravelly dry hills, in the north or middle of 

 Europe, and abundant in this country, flowering in May and 

 June. It is used for besoms, which are generally called 

 Brooms on that account, of whatever substance they happen 

 to be made. In the northern parts of Great Britain, it serves 

 for thatching cottages, corn and hay-ricks, and as a substi- 

 tute for reeds, in making fences or screens. In some parts 

 of Scotland, where coals and wood are scarce, whole fields 

 are said to be sown with it for fuel. The twigs, when bruised, 

 smell disagreeably, which, in addition to their nauseous bit- 

 ter taste, may be the reason why cattle in general will not 

 eat it ; though they shew great fondness for Broom fields, 

 probably because they can best brush off the swarms of flies, 

 which torment them in summer, with its tough yielding 

 branches. Bees are fond of the flowers ; and the flower- 

 buds are pickled in the same manner as capers just before 

 they become yellow. The branches are said to be capable of 

 tanning leather; but whether that be the fact or not, it is 

 pretty certain that the brewers are very capable of substitut- 

 ing those branches in great abundance, for the sake of sparing 

 themselves the cost of the more pleasant and wholesome 

 Hop. The branches are also said to be capable of being 

 manufactured into coarse cloth; and when tender, they are 

 sometimes used along with Hops, in private brewing. The 

 old wood of this plant furnishes the cabinet-maker with the 

 most beautiful material for veneering. We have seen that 

 the Broom claims some attention in rural and domestic 

 economy; we shall now advert to its use in medicine, upon 

 the authorities of Ray, Mead, Cullen, and Withering. A 

 decoction of the young twigs is an excellent medicine in the 

 jaundice and dropsy. It operates by urine, and removes 

 obstructions of the liver, reins, bladder, and other parts. 

 A dropsical patient, who had borne the operation of tapping 

 three times, and taken all the remedies usually prescribed in 

 such cases, without experiencing the least relief, was perfectly 

 cured by taking, every night and morning, half a pint of a 

 decoction of Green Broom tops, with a spoonful of whole 

 Mustard-seed. After taking it a little while, the thirst, which 

 before was excessive, became moderate, the swelling subsided, 

 and the urinary discharge increased to the quantity of a gallon 

 and half, or more, in a day. An infusion of the seeds drank 

 freely, has been known to produce similar happy effects; 

 but whoever expects that every dropsy will yield to this 

 medicine, will be very much deceived. Out of a great num- 

 ber of cases, in which this medicine was allowed a fair trial, 

 only one succeeded. A strong lye, made of the ashes, was 

 used in the Swedish army in the year 1759, to cure dropsies, 

 which succeeded a catarrhal epidemic fever; inconsequence 

 of which the urine became plentiful, and the dropsies quickly 

 disappeared. Cullen ordered half an ounce of fresh Broom 

 tops to be boiled in a pound of water, till one half was con- 

 sumed, and gave two table-spoonfuls of the decoction every 

 hour, till it operated by stool, or till the whole was taken. 

 It seldom failed to operate both by stool and urine ; and by 

 repeating the medicine every day, or every second day, some 

 dropsies have been cured. The plant, when burnt, affords a 

 tolerably pure alkaline salt; and upon this salt the efficacy of 

 Broom in dropsies must depend. The ashes were used prin- 

 cipally on the authority of Sydenham, whose account of their 

 good effects has been since confirmed by Dr. Monro and 

 other writers. The same qualities with good reason have 

 been attributed to the third species, and to Genista Tinctoria; 

 which see. 



