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SPARTIUM SCOPARIUM. 
Common Broom.* 
Class DiADELPHiA. Order Decandria. 
Nat. Ord. pAPiLioNACEiE, Linn. Juss. 
Gen. Char. Filaments united into a tube at the base. 
Stigma linear, hairy. Legume flat. 
Spec. Char. Leaves ternate, or solitary. Branches angular, 
unarmed. Legume many seeded, fringed. 
This species of Spartium f is an indigenous shrub, flowering in 
May and June, and grows plentifully on dry, sandy soils, in many 
parts of the country; it is a large bushy shrub, rising to the height 
of five or six feet, with numerous straight, slender, angular branches, 
covered with a light brown bark ; the young twigs are green ; the 
leaves are small, downy, divided into three oval leaflets, and stand 
upon short footstalks ; the flowers are of papilionaceous form, 
large, numerous, and of a bright yellow j the calyx is of a purplish 
colour, tubular, bilabiate and notched ; the corolla is composed of 
five petals ; the standard is inversely heart-shaped and reflexed ; the 
two wings are ovate-oblong, convex, and united to the filaments ; 
the keel is composed of two lanceolate oblong petals, and connected 
together at the lower margin by soft hairs ; the ten filaments are of 
unequal length, united at the base so as to form a tube ; the 
anthers are oblong, and of a deep yellow ; the germen is oblong, 
flat, hairy, and supports a slender style crowned with an oblong 
stigma ; the legume is flat, and contains many small flat shining 
seeds. 
Sensible Properties. The tops and leaves of broom have 
a bitter and somewhat nauseous taste and a disagreable odour, these 
qualities are imparted by infusion both to water and spirit. 
Medical Properties and Uses. The leaves and tops of 
broom have been long held in much estimation for their diuretic and 
purgative qualities, and have been successfully employed in dropsy. J 
* Fig. a. represents a cutting of the natural size, b. Thepistillum. c. The stamens. 
d. The caljx. e. The pericarpium. 
■f There are above twenty species of the genus Spartium cultivated in our botanic 
gardens, of which the Scoparium and Alpinum are the only two that are natives of 
Britain. .Ed. 
t See Linnsens, Bergins, Sydeuham, &c. 
