Broom. 
J 37 
ofttimes seen it waving high over the headlong torrents of his 
darling Scotia, or spreading a gorgeous golden canopy down 
the sides of his native mountains. Hark to his paean : 
‘ 1 Their groves of sweet myrtle let foreign lands reckon, 
Whose bright beaming summers exalt the perfume ; 
Far dearer to me yon lone glen of green breckan, 
Wi’ the burn stealing under the long yellow broom. 
“Far dearer to me are yon humble broom bowers, 
Where the bluebell and gowan lurk lowly, unseen j- 
And where, lightly tripping amang the sweet flowers, 
A-listening the linnet, oft wanders my Jean.” 
Although, in floral phraseology, the broom is typical of 
humility , it has, its presumed humbleness notwithstanding, 
had several adventures with royalty. History informs us that 
amid the stormy times of the fourteenth century this wild 
shrub was scarcely less distinguished as a regal flower than the 
royal rose herself. The English sovereign race of Plantagenet 
evidently derived their surname from gen$t, the French name of 
this plant; but there appears a great discrepancy between the 
reasons assigned by different writers as to why the designation 
was first assumed. Skinner says that the House of Anjou 
derived the name of Plantagenet from a prince thereof who, 
having killed his brother to enjoy his principality, afterwards 
repented, and made a voyage to the Holy Land to expiate his 
crime, scourging himself every night with a rod made of the 
plant gen6t. Those people who are sceptical on the point of 
royal repentances, more especially when they require penances 
as an accompaniment, may feel more inclined to give credence 
to the account embodied in the following popular legend, 
which tells us that a sprig of genista was first adopted as the 
family badge by Gefroi, Duke of Anjou, father of Henry II. 
He gathered that wild flower—so runs the story—when, pass¬ 
ing through a rocky pathway, he beheld on either side bushes 
of yellow broom clinging with firm grasp to the huge stones, 
or upholding the crumbling soil; and “ thus,” said he, “ shall 
that golden plant ever be my cognizance,—rooted firmly amid 
rocks, and yet upholding that which is ready to fall. I will 
bear it in my crest—amid battle-fields if need be—at tourna¬ 
ments, and when dispensing justice! ” Thus saying, the 
warrior broke off a branch, and fixing it in triumph in his cap. 
