BROOKLIME. 



BRYONY. 



as possible. But in ordinary cases May is the 

 best month ; for then the mare foals at a period 

 when there is an abundance of her natural 

 food. 



BROOKLIME (Myositis painting). This 

 herb loves shallow streams and wet ditches, 

 like the water-cress, which it resembles in 

 taste. It flowers and seeds in June, July, and 

 August. Brooklime is known by its thick 

 stalk, roundish leaves, and its spikes of small 

 bright blue flowers. It grows about a foot in 

 height, and it strikes root at the lower joints, 

 and the roots are fibrous. The leaves are 

 broad, oblong, slightly indented, round at their 

 edges, and blunt at the point, to use an Irishism. 

 The flowers stand singly upon short foot-stalks, 

 one over another, forming a sort of loose spike. 

 Brooklime possesses slight medicinal virtues; 

 but it should be used fresh, as it loses its pro- 

 perties when dried. It is often eaten in salads, 

 which is a pleasant mode of administering it ; 

 but its flavour is in any form warm and 

 agreeable. 



In many parts of the United States, the M. 

 palustris is called Forget-me-not, Marsh scor- 

 pion grass. In French it is the Orrille de souris. 

 In swampy places and spring heads, it remains 

 vigorously green through the winter. It flow- 

 ers from May to September. (Flor. Cettric.) 



BROOM (the Spartium scopariwn or Cyticu* 

 xcopariu* of botanists). PI. 9, d. An evergreen- 

 "branched shrub, native of sandy soils through- 

 out Europe. The broom, with its gay yellow 

 flowers, blooming from April to June, its tough 

 stalks, and flat hairy pods, is well known on 

 all barren and waste grounds, growing abun- 

 dfcntly in dry gravelly thickets and fields, and is 

 often admitted into shrubberies, for its delicate 

 blooms and curious appearance. It is sown 

 extensively in England as a shelter for game. 

 Its branches, which are tough, are made up 

 into brooms, to which they have given their 

 name. The green stalks and tops of brooms 

 are medicinally employed. They have a bitter 

 nauseous taste, and a peculiar odour when 

 green. The green twigs, when burned, yield 

 a large quantity of carbonate of potash, and 

 several other salts. Broom tops, administered 

 in strong infusion, are emetic and purgative : 

 in smaller doses they are diuretic ; and as such 

 have been long employed to excite the action 

 of the kidneys in dropsy ; but its efficacy de- 

 pends on the nature of the dropsy, and its 

 cause. When inflammation is present, broom 

 tops do much harm ; and, therefore, like other 

 remedies, its use should not be intrusted to 

 non-professional persons. It may be useful 

 to know that its action is promoted by dilu- 

 tion. 



BROOM-GRASS. The Andropogon purpu- 

 rescens, A. furcatum, or forked spike-grass, and 

 the A. nutans, or beard-grass, are all known in 

 the Eastern States, where they flower in Au- 

 gust. 



BROOM-RAPE (Orobanche major"). This is 

 a parasitical plant which is found amongst 

 the red clover ; " meaning, perhaps," says Mr. 

 Main, " a robber of broom, from its being fre- 

 quently found on waste grounds growing on 

 the roots of the common broom, and in fields 

 on the roots of clover." In its first appearance 



it resembles the roots of asparagus, just as 

 they break through the ground; the stems rise 

 from six to ten inches high, and without proper 

 leaves, having what are called bractes instead. 

 The flowers are arranged on the stem like 

 those of a hyacinth, but not so showy, being 

 of a dingy brown colour, succeeded by oblong 

 capsules of seeds. A straggling individual 

 plant is sometimes met with amongst ley- 

 wheat feeding on a clover plant, which has 

 escaped destruction by the plough and harrow 

 at wheat sowing ; but it never appears again 

 until the field is sown with clover. From a 

 note by Mr. Rham, quoting Von Aelbrock's Agri- 

 culture of Flanders, p. 283, it would seem that the 

 minute seeds of the broom-rape, which can 

 hardly be observed with the naked eye, exude 

 a glutinous substance, by which they adhere 

 to the seeds of the clover, and <vith which they 

 are in consequence often sown. (Journ. Roy. 

 Eng. jig. Soc. vol. i. p. 175.) Orobanche is a 

 powerful astringent, and might be advantage- 

 ously used in chronic diarrhoeas. 



BROOM, SPANISH (Spartium junceum). PI. 

 9, e. A handsome shrub, with fragrant yellow 

 blossoms, which appear in July; Miller says, 

 that in cool seasons it will keep blowing until 

 September. It loves a sheltered situation. If 

 raised by seed, sow it as soon as it is ripe, in 

 a shady bed of common earth, kept free from 

 weeds. Plant out the seedlings the following 

 autumn. The white Spanish broom (Spartium 

 monospermum) is more tender ; therefore it should 

 be sheltered during the winter. It grows well 

 in shrubberies not exposed to a hot sun. Raised 

 from seed. Phillips recommends the Spanish 

 broom for shrubberies,from its long continuance 

 in bloom, from July to October; and he adds, 

 the common broom (S. scoparium) may as judi- 

 ciously be placed at the foot of towering trees, 

 where it will shine as gay in the gloom as a 

 cypress fire in a forest (Shrubbery, vol. i. 

 p. 151.) 



BRYONY, BLACK (Tamus communis, Gr. 

 &u, I grow rapidly). This is a wild native 

 plant, and climbs like the white bryony; but it 

 wreathes its stalk around the bushes, having 

 no tendrils. The stalk also runs fifteen feet 

 in length. The leaves are broad, shaped like 

 a triangle, smooth, polished, and of a black 

 green colour. The flowers and berries re- 

 semble the white bryony. 



BRYONY, WHITE (Bryonia diaica). This 



plant, with its tendrils and leaves, somewhat 



resembles the vine, and clings like it around 



the trees and bushes in its progress. It grows 



in many parts of England under hedges and 



thickets. The leaves are hairy and broad. 



The flowers small, and of a greenish white 



colour, blowing from May till August. The 



! berries are red, and full of seeds. The root 



j is large, rough, and white, and the stalks from 



I ten to twelve feet in length. The root contains 



a peculiar bitter principle, which has been 



termed bryonin. The root is poisonous, being 



both violently emetic and purgative, producing 



symptoms resembling those of cholera. It is 



sold by herbalists under the name of Mandrake 



I root. Many ignorant persons have been de- 



! stroyed by the employment of bryony root, in 



diseases in which it is said to be useful in old 



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