PLANT-LORE OF SHAKESPEARE 
37 
to “ Broom groves.” 1 I should very much doubt that the 
Broom could ever attain to the dimensions of a grove, though 
Steevens has a note on the passage that “near Gamlingay, in 
Cambridgeshire, it grows high enough to conceal the tallest 
cattle as they pass through it; and in places where it is 
cultivated still higher.” Chaucer speaks of the Broom, but 
does not make it so much of a tree— 
6e Amici the Broom he basked in the sun.” 
And other poets have spoken of the Broom in the same way—- 
thus Collins—* 
“When Dan Sol to slope his wheels began 
Amid the Broom he basked him on the ground.” 
Castle of Indolence , canto i. 
And a Russian poet speaks of the Broom as a tree—■ 
“ See there upon the Broom tree’s bough 
The young grey eagle flapping now.” 
Flora Domestica , p. 68. 
As a garden plant it is perhaps seen to best advantage when 
mixed with other shrubs, as when grown quite by itself it often 
has an untidy look. There is a pure white variety which is 
very beautiful, but it is very liable to' flower so abundantly as 
to flower itself to death. There are a few other sorts, but none 
more beautiful than the British. 
Bulrusb. 
Her careless tresses 
A wreake of Bulrush rounded. 
Two Noble Kinsmen , iv. i, 104. 
See Rush. 
1 Yet Bromsgrove must be a corruption of Broom-grove, and there are 
other places in England named from the Broom. 
