FABLES OF FLORA. 99 
THE BROOM. 
In France, the Broom is regarded as the em¬ 
blem of humility. ‘ The name Plantagenet is 
supposed to be derived from the plant-d-g£nista, 
or Broom. Fulke, Earl of Anjou, who lived a 
century before the Norman conquest, having been 
guilty of some crimes, was enjoined, by way of 
penance, to go to the Holy Land. He wore a 
spiig of genista in his hat — that plant being re¬ 
garded as the symbol of humility. He afterwards 
adopted the. title of Plantagenet, which his de¬ 
scendants retained.’ The Broom is not a native 
of America. It bears a papilionaceous flower, 
and is thus described by Wordsworth. 
‘ On me such beauty summer pours, 
That I am covered o’er with flowers j 
And when the frost is in the sky, 
My branches are so fresh and gay, 
That you might look at me, and say, 
This plant can never die. 
The butterfly, all green and gold, 
To me hath often flown, 
Here in my blossoms to behold 
Wings lovely as his own.’ 
And again: 
*’T was that delightful season, when the Broom, 
Pull-flowered, and visible on every steep, 
Along the copses runs in veins of gold.’ 
