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 palustris). 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 e'aten 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 Oreille de souris. 

 In swampy places and spring heads, it remains 

 vigorously green through the winter. It flow- 

 ers from May to September. (Flor. C/nV.) 



BROOM (the SjHirtium $coparium or Cijtt'-ns 

 smfi,i,-iiix 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, il 

 stalks, and flat hairy pods, is well known on 

 all l)un>n and waste grounds, growing abun- 

 dantly in dry gravellv thickets and fields, and is 

 often admitted into shrubberies, for its delicate 

 and curious appearance. It is sown 

 extensively in England as a shelter for game. 

 Its branches, which are tough, are m 

 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 

 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 Jlndropogon purpur 

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

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

 the Eastern States, where they flower in Au- 

 gust. 



BROOM-RAPE (Ch-obanche 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 ai ranged 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 delbrork'* Jgri- 

 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 vrith 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 diarrhreas. 



BROOM, SPANISH (Sp.irliinnjnnr, //). 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 sha.lv bed of common earth, kept free from 

 Plant out the seedlings the following 

 autumn. The white Spanish broom (Sfnniium 

 -/IIIIMI) is more tender; therefore it should 

 :>e >l).-ltered during the winter. It grows well 

 in shrubberies not exposed to a hot sun. Raised 

 from seed. Phillips recommends the Spanish 

 broom for shrubber - longeontimiance 



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

 the common broom (>'. m-Hfim-inm) 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 (Tamm communis, Gr. 

 /, 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 dioica). 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 w^ite 

 colour, blowing from May till August. Tne 

 berries are red, and full of seeds. The root 

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

 ten to twelve feet in length. The root contains 

 a peculiar bitter principle, whfch 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 Manarut^ 

 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 ol& 

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