Broom (shrub)

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Broom (shrub)

Brooms are a group of evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
, semi-evergreen, and deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is a horticulture rather than strictly Botany category of woody plant, distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and lower height, usually less than 5-6 m tall....
s in the subfamily Faboideae

Faboideae

Faboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....
of the legume

Legume

A legume is a plant in the family Fabaceae , or a fruit of these specific plants. A legume fruit is a Fruit#Simple fruit that develops from a simple carpel and usually Dehiscence on two sides....
family Fabaceae

Fabaceae

Fabaceae or Leguminosae is a large and economically important family of flowering plants, which is commonly known as the legume family, pea family, bean family or pulse family....
, mainly in the three genera Chamaecytisus, Cytisus and Genista, but also in five other small genera

Genus

A genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the classification of living and fossil organisms. The taxonomic ranks are domain , kingdom , phylum, class , order , family , genus, and species....
(see box, right). All genera in this group are from the tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe — or infrafamily — is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes....
Genisteae (syn. Cytiseae). These genera are all closely related and share similar characteristics of dense, slender green stems and very small leaves

Leaf

In botany, a leaf is an above-ground plant Organ specialized for photosynthesis. For this purpose, a leaf is typically flat and thin, to expose the cells containing chloroplast to light over a broad area, and to allow light to penetrate fully into the tissues....
, adaptations to dry growing conditions.

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Encyclopedia

Brooms are a group of evergreen

Evergreen

Deciduous

Shrub

Faboideae

Faboideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae....
of the legume

Legume

Fabaceae

Genus

Tribe (biology)

Leaf

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s, but a few have white, orange, red, pink or purple flowers.

Two other close relatives are Ulex

Gorse

Gorse comprises a genus of about 20 species of evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberian Peninsula....
(gorse) and Laburnum
Laburnum

Laburnum is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, Laburnum anagyroides and Laburnum alpinum ....
(laburnum), but these differ more strongly in appearance from the brooms. Some botanists include Podocytisus caramanicus in the genus Laburnum.

All the brooms and their relatives (including Laburnum and Ulex) are natives of Europe

Europe

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
and southwest Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, with the greatest diversity in the Mediterranean region. Many brooms (though not all) are fire-climax species, adapted to regular stand-replacing fires which kill the above-ground parts of the plants, but create conditions for regrowth from the roots and also for germination

Germination

Germination is the process whereby growth emerges from a period of dormancy. The most common example of germination is the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an flowering plant or gymnosperm....
of stored seeds in the soil.

Species of broom

The most widely familiar is common broom (Cytisus scoparius
Cytisus scoparius

Cytisus scoparius is a perennial, leguminous shrub native to western and central Europe from the Iberian Peninsula north to the British Isles and southern Scandinavia, and east to Poland and Romania, where it is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils at low altitudes....
, syn. Sarothamnus scoparius), a native of northwestern Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
, where it is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils. Like most brooms, it has apparently leafless stems that in spring and summer are covered in profuse golden-yellow flowers. In late summer, its pea-pod like seed capsules burst open, often with an audible pop, spreading seed from the parent plant. It makes a shrub about 1–3m tall, rarely to 4 m. It is also the hardiest broom, tolerating temperatures down to about -25°C.

The largest species of broom is Mount Etna broom (Genista aetnensis
Genista aetnensis

Genista aetnensis or Mount Etna Broom is a large shrub or small tree Endemism to the island of Sicily where it is a very common constituent of the garigue communities around the lower slopes of Mount Etna....
), which can make a small tree to 10 m tall; by contrast, some other species, e.g. dyer's broom Genista tinctoria
Genista tinctoria

Genista tinctoria or Dyer?s Greenweed is a plant species of the genus Genista....
, are low sub-shrubs, barely woody at all.

Broom is used as a food source by the larva

Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
e of some Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is an order of insect that includes moths and butterfly. It is one of the most speciose orders in the class Insecta, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterfly, skipper , and Hedylidae....
species – see list of Lepidoptera that feed on brooms.

Cultivation

Brooms tolerate (and often thrive best in) poor soils and growing conditions. In cultivation they need little care, though they need good drainage and perform poorly on wet soils.

They are widely used as ornamental landscape plants and also for wasteland reclamation

Land reclamation

Land reclamation is either of two distinct practices. One involves creating new land from sea- or riverbeds, the other refers to restoring an area to a more natural state ....
(e.g. mine tailings

Tailings

Tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the worthless fraction of an ore.Tailings represent external costs of mining....
) and sand dune

Dune

In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by aeolian processes. Dunes are subject to different forms and sizes based on their interaction with the wind....
stabilising.

Tagasaste (Chamaecytisus proliferus
Tagasaste

Tagasaste , or Tree Lucerne, is a small spreading evergreen tree that grows 3-4m high.Tagasaste is indigenous to the dry volcanic slopes of the Canary Islands, but it is now grown in Australia, New Zealand and many other parts of the world....
syn. C. palmensis), a Canary Islands native, is widely grown as sheep fodder.

Species of broom popular in horticulture

Horticulture

'Horticulture' is the industry and science of plant cultivation. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, Crop , plant breeding and genetic engineering, plant biochemistry, and plant physiology....
are purple broom (Chamaecytisus purpureus; purple flowers), Atlas broom (or Moroccan broom) (Argyrocytisus battandieri, syn. Cytisus battandieri, with silvery foliage), dwarf broom (Cytisus procumbens), Provence broom (Cytisus purgans) and Spanish broom (Spartium junceum
Spanish Broom

Spanish Broom , also known as Weaver's Broom, is a perennial, leguminous shrub native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa, where it is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils....
).

Many of the most popular brooms in gardens are hybrids, notably Kew broom (Cytisus × kewensis, hybrid between C. ardoinii and C. multiflorus) and Warminster broom (Cytisus × praecox, hybrid between C. purgans and C. multiflorus).

Invasive species

In some areas of North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
, common broom, introduced as an ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are typically grown in the flower garden or as house plants. Most commonly they are grown for the display of their flowers. Other common ornamental features include leaves, scent, fruit, Plant stem and bark....
, has become naturalised and an invasive

Invasive species

Invasive species is a phrase with several definitions. The first definition expresses the phrase in terms of non-indigenous species that adversely affect the habitats they invade economically, environmentally or ecologically....
weed

WEED

WEED is a radio station broadcasting a Gospel format. Licensed to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, USA, it serves the area. The station is currently owned by Northstar Broadcasting Corporation....
due to its aggressive seed dispersal; it has proved very difficult to eradicate. Similarly, it is a major problem species in the cooler and wetter areas of southern Australia

Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the southern hemisphere comprising the Australia of the world's smallest continent, the major island of Tasmania, and numerous list of islands of Australia in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Oceans....
and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous Islands of New Zealand, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands....
. Biological control for broom in New Zealand has been investigated since the mid 1980s. On the west coast of the United States, French broom (Genista monspessulana
French Broom

French Broom , also known as Cape Broom and Montpellier Broom, is a perennial plant shrub and a legume. The species is native to the Mediterranean region, and is considered an invasive plant in most places where it has been introduced....
) and Spanish broom (Spartium junceum
Spanish Broom

Spanish Broom , also known as Weaver's Broom, is a perennial, leguminous shrub native to the Mediterranean region in southern Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa, where it is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils....
) are also considered noxious invasives, as they are quickly crowding out native vegetation, and grow most prolifically in the least accessible areas.

Historical uses

The Plantagenet

Angevin

Angevin is the name applied to the residents of Anjou, a former province of the Ancien R?gime in France, as well as to the residents of Angers....
kings used common broom (known as "planta genista" in Latin) as an emblem and took their name from it. It was originally the emblem of Geoffrey of Anjou

Geoffrey V, Count of Anjou

Geoffrey V , called the Handsome and Plantagenet, was the Count of Anjou, Count of Tours, and Count of Maine by inheritance from 1129 and then Duke of Normandy by conquest from 1144....
, father of Henry II of England

Henry II of England

Henry II, called Curtmantle ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France....
. Wild broom is still common in dry habitats around Anjou

Anjou

Anjou is a former county , duchy and Provinces of France centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day d?partement in France of Maine-et-Loire....
, France.

Genista tinctoria
Genista tinctoria

Genista tinctoria or Dyer?s Greenweed is a plant species of the genus Genista....
(dyer's broom, also known as dyer's greenweed or dyer's greenwood), provides a useful yellow dye

Dye

A dye can generally be described as a colored substance that has an Chemical affinity to the Wiktionary:substrate to which it is being applied....
and was grown commercially for this purpose in parts of Britain into the early 19th century. Woollen cloth, mordant

Mordant

A mordant is a substance used to set dyes on fabrics by forming an insoluble compound with the dye. It may be used for dyeing fabrics, or for intensifying stains in cell or tissue preparations....
ed with alum

Alum

Alum, refers to a specific chemical compound and a class of chemical compounds. The specific compound is the hydrated aluminum potassium sulfate with the chemical formula KAl2.12H2O....
, was dyed yellow with dyer's greenweed, then dipped into a vat of blue dye (woad

Woad

Woad is the common name of the flowering plant Isatis tinctoria in the family Brassicaceae. It is commonly called dyer's woad, and sometimes incorrectly listed as Isatis indigotica ....
or, later, indigo

Indigo

Indigo is the color on the electromagnetic spectrum between about 420 and 450 nanometre in wavelength, placing it between blue and violet . Although traditionally considered one of seven divisions of the optical spectrum, modern color scientists do not usually recognize indigo as a separate division and generally classify wavelengths shorter...
) to produce the once-famous "Kendal Green" (largely superseded by the brighter "Saxon Green" in the 1770s). Kendal
Kendal

Kendal is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. It is south of Carlisle, on the River Kent, and has a total resident population of 27,521, making it the third largest settlement in Cumbria ....
green is a local common name for the plant.

The flower buds and flowers of Cytisus scoparius have been used as a salad ingredient, raw or pickled, and were a popular ingredient for salmagundi

Salmagundi

Salmagundi is a salad dish originating in the early 17th century England comprising cooked meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, leaf vegetable, nut and Edible flowers and dressed with oil, vinegar and spices....
or "grand sallet" during the 17th and 18th century.

Folklore and myth

In Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology

Welsh mythology, the remnants of the mythology of the pre-Christian Britons , has come down to us in much altered form in Medieval Welsh literature such as the Red Book of Hergest, the White Book of Rhydderch, the Book of Aneirin and the Book of Taliesin....
, Blodeuwedd

Blodeuwedd

In Welsh mythology, Blodeuwedd or Blodeuedd, , is a woman made from the flowers of Broom , meadowsweet and the oak by Math fab Mathonwy and Gwydion to be the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes....
is the name of a woman made from the flowers of broom, meadowsweet

Meadowsweet

Filipendula ulmaria, commonly known as Meadowsweet, is a Perennial plant herb in the family Rosaceae, which grows in damp meadows. It is native throughout most of Europe and western Asia though it has been successfully introduced and naturalized in North America....
and the oak

Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
by Math fab Mathonwy and Gwydion

Gwydion

In Welsh mythology, Gwydion is a Magician appearing prominently in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi#Math, son of Mathonwy of the Mabinogion and the ancient poem Cad Goddeu....
to be the wife of Lleu Llaw Gyffes

Lleu Llaw Gyffes

Lleu Llaw Gyffes is a figure of Welsh mythology. He appears in the Four Branches of the Mabinogi of the Mabinogion, the tale of Math fab Mathonwy....
. Her story is part of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi

Four Branches of the Mabinogi

The Four Branches of the Mabinogi are the best known tales from the medieval Welsh language prose collection known as the Mabinogion. The word "Mabinogi" originally designated only these four tales, which are really parts or "branches" of a single work, rather than the whole collection....
, the tale of Math son of Mathonwy.

A traditional rhyme from Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Su?seaxe , is a Historic counties of England in South East England England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex....
says: "Sweep the house with blossed broom in May/sweep the head of the household away." Despite this, it was also common to include a decorated bundle of broom at weddings. Ashes of broom were used to treat dropsy, while its strong smell was said to be able to tame wild horses and dogs.

Genera in Genisteae

Adenocarpus DC.
Anarthrophyllum Benth.
Argyrocytisus (Maire) Frodin & Heywood ex Raynaud
Argyrolobium Eckl. & Zeyh.
Calycotome Link
Chamaecytisus Link
Cytisophyllum O. Lang
Cytisus Desf.
Dichilus DC.
Echinospartum (Spach) Fourr.
Erinacea Adans.
Genista
Genista

Genista is a genus of Fabaceae which includes many species of Broom . Many of these brooms are notorious as noxious weeds.Species include:...
L.
Gonocytisus Spach
Hesperolaburnum Maire
Laburnum
Laburnum

Laburnum is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, Laburnum anagyroides and Laburnum alpinum ....
Fabr.
Lupinus L.
Melolobium
Melolobium

Melolobium is a genus of 15 species of flowering plants belonging to the legume family . It is native to southern Africa, where it is found in south and east Namibia, southwest Botswana, and most of South Africa....
Eckl. & Zeyh.
Petteria C. Presl
Podocytisus Boiss. & Heldr.
Polhillia C. H. Stirt.
Retama Raf.
Sellocharis Taub.
Spartium L.
Stauracanthus Link
Ulex L.

Broom (shrub)

Species of broom

Cultivation

Invasive species

Historical uses

Folklore and myth

Genera in Genisteae

Gallery

Further reading