37 
XV.—THE SPANISH BROOM AS A FIBRE PLANT. 
(Spartium junceum, L.) 
[K. B., 1892, pp. 53-58.] 
‘The well-known Spanish Broom of gardens, Spartium junceun, L. 
(Genista juncea, Lam.), is a native of the south of Europe, and it is 
found wild in Spain, Portugal, the south of France, Italy, and Greece. 
8 ft 
It is a hardy shrub, 5 to 8 ft. in height, he piipht round branches 
of a deep green colour. It has a few lan e-shaped leaves, which soon 
fall off. wers are large but not Hatisrotts They are disposed 
in terminal racemes, and are of a deep yellow colour and sweet scented. 
Loudon, Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (ed. 1838), p. 576, 
gives a full account of this plant and its cultivation in this country. 
“ In Britain,” he says, “the plant is solely regarded as an ornamental 
“ shrub, having the appearance of an evergreen from its smooth, dark 
s he n shoots and fastigiate form, even in winter, when without leaves.” 
s figured in the Botanical Magazine, pl. 85; and in Sibthorp’s 
Whi Greca, pl. 671. s the generic name implies (sparton, 
cortege) the plant is known to yield a fibre. It has long been 
8 the material of cordage, nets, bags, and even of sails, which 
were? in use by the Greeks, Romans, and Carthaginians. Owing to the 
more abundant and cheaper materials pipra from cotton and hemp, 
the use of the Spanish Broom as a fibre plant has in recent times 
become confined to remote parts of eni and Italy, and eyen there 
the reese! is gradually becoming exti 
The plant thrives in the most sterile foils and in localities where few 
other kinds of vegetation are able to survive. It will grow equally well 
either in poor sandy soils or in those of a rocky and arid character. The 
young shoots are used as a winter fodder for sheep and goats. The 
flowers contain a large amount of honey and Pe attractive to bees. 
They also yield a dye. In France the plant is known as Genét 
@ Espagne. An allied plant, the common Fobiak Broom, Cytisus scopa- 
rius, Link (Spartium scoparium, L.), kn stub a Bs a balais orle gra: 
ét, is also occasionally used in Fran fibre purposes, but its 
value in this respect is small compar ay wh that of the Spanish 
Sabet ee m 1 Pera to the latter, Loudon discusses its economic uses 
as 
“Tn it tity rind the south of France a very good cloth is manufactured 
from the fibres of this plant, Spartium junceum. The shoots are cut 
over in the course of the month of August, and after having been 
made up into little bundles, are dried in the sun. These are afterwards 
beaten with a mallet, and then steeped in water for ET or four hours ; 
after this they are steeped ina ditch, among water and mud, for eight 
or nine days, and then taken out and W ashed, aik operation has the 
effect of separating the parenchyma from the fibres. The bundles are 
then opened, and thinly spread out to dry, after which they are combed 
in the manner of anes: and the better part is 5 iaa aside for being spun, 
instead of the more viag process ess of immersing them in cold w. rs 
when thus treated the parenchyma is rendered fit for rae g ya 
