170 
BROOM. 
Mark well the flow’ring almonds in the wood: 
IFod’rous blossoms the bearing branches load, 
The glebe will answer to the sylvan reign, 
Great heats will follow, and large crops of grain. 
DRYDEN. 
BROOM. 
Even humble broom and osiers have their use. 
In the hieroglyphical language of flowers, the broom is 
made the emblem of Humility from the following historical 
anecdote. 
Fulke, Earl of Anjou, having been guilty of some crime, 
was enjoined, by way of penance, to go to the Holy Land 
and submit to castigation. He acquiesced, habited himself 
in lowly attire, and, as a mark of his humility, wore a sprig 
of broom in his cap. 
The expiation being happily finished, Fulke adopted the 
name of Plantagenet, from the Latin of this shrub, planta- 
genesta. 
His descendants continued the name, and many successive 
nobles of the line of Anjou, distinguished themselves by 
decorating their helmets with this plant. 
The arms of Richard the First were, “ two lions combat¬ 
ant.” Crest, a plantagenista, or broom sprig. Upon his 
great seal, a broom sprig is placed on each side of his 
throne. — Sandford's Genealogical History. 
