Spanish broom spartium junceum12/2/2023 'Genesta hath that name of bytterness for it is full of bytter to mannes taste. It had a place in the London Pharmacopceia of 1618 and is included in the British Pharmacopoeia of the present day. It is likewise the Genista figured by the German botanists and pharmacologists of the sixteenth century.īroom was used in ancient Anglo-Saxon medicine and by the Welsh physicians of the early Middle Ages. The medicinal use of the brush-like branches of the Broom, under the name Genista, Genesta, or Genestia, is mentioned in the earliest printed herbals, under Passau, 1485, the Hortus Sanitatis, 1491, the Grete Herball, 1516, and others. The generic name Cytisus is said to be a corruption of the name of a Greek island, Cythnus, where Broom abounded, though it is probable that the Broom known to the ancients, and mentioned by Pliny and by Virgil under the name of Genista, was another species, the Spanish Broom, Spartium junceum, as the Common Broom is in Greece and not found in Southern and Eastern Europe, being chiefly a native of Western, Northern and Central Europe. The local names of Basam, Bisom, Bizzom, Breeam, Browme, Brum and Green Broom have all been given it in reference to the habit of making brooms of it, and the name of the genus, Sarothamnus, to which it was formerly assigned, also points out this use of the plant, being formed from the Greek words signifying 'to sweep' and 'a shrub.' The specific name, Scoparius, also, is derived from the Latin scopa, a besom. Its long, slender, erect and tough branches grow in large, close fascicles, thus rendering it available for broom-making, hence its English name. Though now more generally known as Cytisus scoparius (Linn.), it has also been named Spartium scoparium (Linn.), Sarothamnus scoparius (Koch), and Genista scoparius (Lam.). It is remarkable as the only native medicinal plant used as an official drug that we draw from the important order of the Leguminosae, or pod-bearing tribe. It is sparingly naturalized in sandy soil in North America. Habitat-The densely-growing Broom, a shrub indigenous to England and common in this country, grows wild all over temperate Europe and northern Asia, being found in abundance on sandy pastures and heaths. Substitutes -Synonyms-Spartium scoparium (Linn.).© Copyright Protected 1995-2021 Botanical.Broom Botanical: Cytisus scoparius (LINN.) This should be taken into account as some of the information may now be considered inaccurate, or not in accordance with modern medicine. The leaflets are said to produce a dye like indigo by proper fermentation, and are also reported as a laxative.īear in mind "A Modern Herbal" was written with the conventional wisdom of the early 1900's. The action and uses of the drug are very similar to those of Broom. The drug, at least that from Coronilla scorpioides (Koch), contains the glucoside Coronillin, a yellow powder. The name Spartium is from the Greek word denoting 'cardage,' in allusion to the use of the plant.Ĭoronilla scorpioides (Koch) has been used medicinally as substitute for Broom.Ĭoronilla is the herbage of various species of the genus of that name, natives of Europe and some naturalized in North America. The dried flowers of Spanish Broom are readily differentiated, those of the true Broom having a small bell-shaped calyx with two unequal lobes, the upper of which is bi-dentate and the lower minutely tridentate, while in Spartium junceum, the calyx is deeply cleft to the base on one side only.īy macerating the twigs a good fibre is obtained, which is made into thread in Languedoc, and its cord and a coarse sort of cloth in Dalmatia. The seeds have been used to a considerable extent in dropsy, in the form of a tincture. The symptoms produced by overdoses are vomiting and purging, with renal irritation. Medicinal Action and Uses-The Spanish Broom in its medicinal properties closely resembles the common Broom, but is from five to six times more active. It is identified with the Spartium of the ancients, which is reputed to have been very violent in action and was said by Gerard and other herbalists 'to cause to vomit with great violence, even as white Hellebor.' The flowers are large, yellow and of an agreeable scent. Medicinal Action and Uses -Habitat-The Spanish Broom is a small shrub, indigenous in the south of Europe and cultivated as an ornamental plant.Broom, Spanish Botanical: Spartium junceum (LINN.)
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