Broom

Broom
(Cytisus scoparius) Poison

Folk Names: Banal. Basam, Besom, Bisom, Bizzon, Breeam, Broom Tops, Brum, Genista, Green Broom, Irish Broom, Irish Tops, Link, Scotch Broom, Hog Weed
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Mars
Element: Air
Powers: Purification, Protection, Wind, Spells, Divination
Magical Uses: Broom is used in purification and protection spells, and is hung in the home to keep evil out. Also, an infusion of broom sprinkled through the house exorcises poltergeists.
   Although the infusion was once used as a drink to increase psychic powers, this can be dangerous because the plant is slightly poisonour; crry instead for this purpose.
   To raise the winds, throw broom into the air while invoking the spirit of Air, preferably from a mountaintop. To calm the winds, burn broom and bury the ashes.
   If you do outdoor spells (which is the best place to perform magic) sweep the ground with broom prior to your workings, if it grows nearby.
[From: Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs]

  The various species of Broom are a group of evergreens, semi-evergreens, and deciduous shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the legume family Fabaceae , mainly in the three genera Chamaecytisus, Cytisus and Genista. These genera are all closely related and share similar characteristics of dense, slender green stems and very small leaves, which are adaptations to dry growing conditions. Most of the species have yellow flowers, but a few have white, orange, red, pink or purple flowers.

  The most widely familiar is common broom (Cytisus scoparius, syn. Sarothamnus scoparius), a native of northwestern Europe, 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 peapod-like seed capsules burst open, often with an audible pop, spreading seed from the parent plant.  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 (e.g. mine tailings) and sand dune stabilising.   In some areas of North America, common broom, introduced as an ornamental plant, has become naturalised and an invasive weed due to its aggressive seed dispersal; it has proved very difficult to eradicate.  On the west coast of the United States, French broom (Genista monspessulana) and Spanish broom (Spartium junceum) are also considered noxious invasives, as they are quickly crowding out native vegetation, and grow most prolifically in the least accessible areas.

Cytisus scoparius, Common Broom. 1. Two-lipped calyx. 2. Broadly ovate vexillum or standard. 3. One of the alae or wings of the corolla. 4. Carina or keel. 5. Monadelphous stamens. 6. Hairy ovary with the long style, thickened upwards, and spirally curved. 7. Legume or pod.

Historical uses

The Plantagenet 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, father of Henry II of England. Wild broom is still common in dry habitats around Anjou, France.

Genista tinctoria (dyer's broom, also known as dyer's greenweed or dyer's greenwood), provides a useful yellow dye and was grown commercially for this purpose in parts of Britain into the early 19th century. Woollen cloth, mordanted with alum, was dyed yellow with dyer's greenweed, then dipped into a vat of blue dye (woad or, later, indigo) to produce the once-famous "Kendal Green" (largely superseded by the brighter "Saxon Green" in the 1770s). Kendal 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 or "grand sallet" during the 17th and 18th century.



Folklore and myth

In Welsh mythology, Blodeuwedd is the name of 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. Her story is part of the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, the tale of Math son of Mathonwy.

A traditional rhyme from 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.

This makes an interesting picture - snow on what looks like the first budding

flowers on a Broom plant.

PS: I want to add this postscript to this blog entry - yesterday - February 8th, I did a post entry in my Witch's Daily blog on making an Asperger using twigs and Broom was one of the types of twigs suggested to use. Reading about Broom's use as this I became curious about Broom's qualities and thus this post on it came to be here.  Being that Broom has protective qualities protection I am now convinced that I would seek out Broom to make one of these sprinkling devices for my rites.    S.