BROOM, it name given to a number of species of shrubs of the closely allied genera cytisus, genista, and spartium, of the natnral order leguminosce, papilionacece- all of them having long slender branches, along which are produced axillary flowers. The genera differ in the form of the standard (see PAPILIONACE.rE), which is roundish in spartium, broadly ovate in cytisus, and oblongo-ovate In genista, whilst 'spartium has also an acuminate keel, and that of cytisus is very obtuse, that of genista being oblong and not wholly including the stamens and pistil. The legume is many-seeded in all, the calyx 2-lipped, and the filaments united in a tube.—Common B., cytisus scoparius, the name being from the Lat. scopee, long twigs, or a besom—which has by different botanists being ranked in each of the genera just named, although it possesses the char acters above assigned to cytisus, but has recently been made the type of a new genus, under the name of sarothamnus scoparius or conanuni4—is a well-known native of Britain and of the continent of Europe, growing in dry soils, and ornamenting hedge banks, hills, and bushy places, in May and June, with its large yellow flowers, which are on short stalks, drooping, solitary, but produced in considerable number along the straight slender branchlets. The whole aspect of the plant is graceful. The lower leaves have three oblong leaflets, the tipper ones, or bracts, are simple; the branches are angular and of a very dark green, very tough, and much in use for making besoms. They have also been used for tanning and dyeing; and their fiber has been woven into a coarse strong cloth, and even made into paper. The whole plant is very bitter, with a peculiar nauseous taste and smell when bruised. The young tops and seeds are used in medicine, being powerfully diuretic, and very beneficial iu some kinds of dropsy. They are also mildly laxative, and in large doses emetic. They are commonly admin istered in the form of a decoction. B. inhabits colder climates than furze, reaching to a greater elevation on mountains, and being found beyond the northern limit of furze.
It varies in size from a very humble shrub to one of 20 or even 30 ft. in height, and when it reaches this size, the wood is of great value for the finer purposes of cabinet-makers and turners.—Irish B., cytisus or sarothamnus patens, not unfrequent as an ornamental plant in British shrubberies, is not at all a native of Ireland, but of Spain and Portugal. —Portugal B., or White B., cytisus albus, a native of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean, is very often planted in Britain as an ornamental shrub, and is much admired for the beauty of its fascicled white flowers, which are produced upon long nliform branches. Its leaves have three leaflets. It sometimes attains a height of 15 or 20 feet.—Spanish B., spartiumjunceum, is a native of the s. of Europe, generally grow ing in dry soils and rocky situations, and attaining a height of S ft. or upwards. Its branches are upright, round, and rush-like, a characteristic of this genus. They are smooth, and bear only a few small simple leaves, which soon drop off. The fiber of the branchlets is much used in some parts of Italy, France, and Spain, for making cloth, ropes, etc. In the s. of France, the plant is cultivated on dry unproductive soils. The branchlets are made into bundles, dried, beaten, steeped, and washed, in order to the separation of the fiber. It possesses medical properties similar to those of the common B.—A white-flowered species, S. monospermum, occasionally to be seen in British shrub beries, grows abundantly on the loose sands of the coasts of Spain, and produces a simi lar fiber. It is mentioned by Barth as growing in great abundance in Africa to the s. of the great desert. Many species somewhat resembling these are occasionally to he seen in Britain among ornamental plants, some of them often in greenhouses. The Canary isles produce some remarkable for the fragrance of their flowers. The name B. is not given to those species of cytisus (q.v.) and genista (q.v.) which do not display in a marked degree the character of having long slender twigs.—Butcher's B. (q.v.) is a plant of an entirely different family.