Broom, in botany: A genus of plants belonging to the class of diadelphia, and order of deco- uria; and in the natural system arranged under the 32d order, Papilionaceæ. The stigma is longitudinal and wool- ly above: the filaments adhere to the germen. The ca- lyx is produced downwards. There are 16 species, the scoparium, contaminatum, sepiarium, junceum, monospermum, sphaerocarpum, purgans, aphyllum, fcorpius, angulatum, patens, supranulum, complicatum, radiatum, cytoides, and spinofum. All these, except the scoparium, are exotics, chiefly from Spain, Portugal, Italy, &c.
The scoparium, or common broom, has ternate foliary leaves; the branches angular, and without prickles.
Uses. The common broom is used for a variety of purposes. It has been of great benefit sometimes in dropsical complaints. The manner in which Dr Culen administered it was this: He ordered half an ounce of fresh broom tops to be boiled in a pound of water till one half of the water was evaporated. He then gave two table-spoonfuls of the decoction every hour till it operated both by stool and urine. By repeating these doses every day, or every second day, he says some droppings have been cured. Dr Mead relates, that a dropsical patient, who had taken the usual remedies, and been tapped three times without effect, was cured by taking half a pint of the decoction of green broom tops, with a spoonful of whole mustard-seed every morning and evening.
An infusion of the seeds drunk freely (says Mr Withering) has been known to produce similar happy effects; but whoever expects these effects to follow in every dropsical case, will be greatly deceived. I knew them succeed in one case that was truly deplorable; but out of a great number of cases in which the medicine had a fair trial, this proved a single instance.
The flower buds are in some countries pickled, and eaten as capers; and the seeds have been used as a bad substitute for coffee. The branches are used for making besoms, and tanning leather. They are also used instead of thatch to cover housetops. The old wood furnishes the cabinet-maker with beautiful materials for veneering. The tender branches are in some places mixed with hops for brewing, and the macerated bark may be manufactured into cloth.
The junceum, or Spanish broom, grows naturally in the southern provinces of France, as well as other parts of the south of Europe. It grows in the poorest soils, on the steepest declivities of the hills, in a stony soil, where hardly any other plant could vegetate. In a few years it makes a vigorous shrub; insinuating its roots between the interstices of the stones, it binds the soil, and retains the small portion of vegetable earth scattered over these hills, which the autumnal rains would otherwise wash away. It is most easily raised from seed, which is usually sown in January, after the ground has received a slight dressing.
This shrub serves two useful purposes. Its branches yield a thread of which linen is made, and in winter support sheep and goats.
In manufacturing thread from broom, the youngest plants are cut in the month of August, or after harvest, and gathered together in bundles, which at first are laid in the sun to dry: they are then beaten with a piece of wood, washed in a river or pond, and left to steep in the water for about four hours. The bundles thus prepared are taken to a little distance from the water, and laid in a hollow place made for them, where they are covered with fern or straw, and remain thus to steep for eight or nine days; during which time, all that is necessary, is to throw a little water once a day on the heap, without uncovering the broom. After this, the bundles are well washed, the green rind of the plant or epidermis comes off, and the fibrous part remains; each bundle is then beaten with a wooden hammer upon a stone, to detach all the threads, which are at the same time carefully drawn to the extremity of the branches. After this operation, the faggots are untied, and spread upon stones or rocks till they are dry. The twigs must not be peeled till they are perfectly dry; they are then dressed with the comb, and the threads are separated according to their fineness, and spun upon a wheel.
The linen made of this thread serves various purposes in rural economy. The coarsest is employed in making sacks and other strong cloths for carrying grain or seeds. Of the finest is made bed, table, and body linen. The peasants in several places use no other, for they are unacquainted with the culture of hemp or flax, their soil being too dry and too barren for raising them. The cloth made with the thread of the broom is very useful; it is as soft as that made of hemp; and it would perhaps look as well as that made of flax if it was more carefully spun. It becomes white in proportion as it is steeped. The price of the finest thread, when it is sold, which seldom happens, is generally about a shilling a pound.
The other use to which this broom is applied, is to maintain sheep and goats during winter. In the mountains of Lower Languedoc these animals have no other food from November to April, except the leaves of trees preserved. The branches of this broom therefore are a resource the more precious, that it is the only fresh nourishment which at that season the flocks can procure, and they prefer it at all times to every other plant. In fine weather the sheep are led out to feed on the broom where it grows; but in bad weather the shepherds cut the branches, and bring them to the sheep-folds. There is, however, an inconvenience attending the continued use of this food. It generally produces inflammation in the urinary passages. But this inconvenience is easily removed by cooling drink, or a change of food, or by mixing the broom with something else.
It is perhaps needless to add, that it differs much from the broom that is common everywhere in the north of Europe, though this too, in many places, is used for food to cattle. Both of them produce flowers that are very much resorted to by bees, as they contain a great quantity of honey juice. And this should be another inducement to the cultivation of the Spanish broom.