Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The dried tops of the leguminous plant Cytisus Scoparius; broom; broom tops; Irish or Scotch broom. It contains the alkaloid sparteine and the glucoside scoparin, and is a heart tonic and diuretic, used in dropsy.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Above these are a zone of elfin woodland of Korean pine Pinus koraiensis and 'cedar', dwarf mountain pine Pinus pumila, mountain ash Sorbus scoparius, and sub-alpine meadows, scrub and mountain tundra, the degree of the freeze-thaw cycle determining the zoning of higher vegetation belts.

    Volcanoes of Kamchatka, Russian Federation 2008

  • Weeds include Russell lupins (Lupinus polyphyllus) around Mt. Cook, as well as broom (Cytisus scoparius) and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesi) around Lake Sumner and the southern lakes.

    Southland montane grasslands 2008

  • Other Canary Island endemics are shrubby scabious Pterocephalus lasiospermus, Teide daisy Argynanthemum teneriffae, red bugloss Echium wildpretti, flixweed Descurainia bourgeauana and D. lemsii, Canary Island wallflower Erisimon scoparius and Canary Island wall lettuce Tolpis webbii.

    Teide National Park, Spain 2008

  • Tussock grassland species are threatened by invasion and suppression by weed species like broom (Cytisus scoparius), Corsican pine (Pinus nigra laricio), and Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesi).

    Southland temperate forests 2007

  • Tussock grasslands are threatened by exotic conifers, such as the lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta), while dryland environments are invaded by broom (Cytisus scoparius) and sweet briar (Rosa rubiginosa).

    Cantebury-Otago tussock grasslands 2007

  • He returned to the lab and cooked up a brew consisting of some exotic poisons: atropine (a naturally occurring alkaloid of atropia belladonna or deadly nightshade), sparteine (a compound derived from the European shrub Scotch broom, Cytisus scoparius), and pilocarpine hydrochloride (an alkaloid found in the leaves of a South American shrub, Pilocarpus jaborandi).

    The Very Nutty Professor 2005

  • The Broom, or Link (_Cytisus scoparius_) is a leguminous shrub which is well known as growing abundantly on open places in our rural districts.

    Herbal Simples Approved for Modern Uses of Cure William Thomas Fernie

  • Hildebrand describes an analogous increase in a flower of _Sarothamnus scoparius_ in which, in conjunction with a seven-toothed calyx, there were two carinas and fourteen stamens.

    Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants Maxwell T. Masters

  • It is impossible to identify it with certainty, but most scholars believe it to be Convolvulus scoparius, also called Lignum rhodium (rose-scented wood).

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913

  • Its modern Latin name is _Cytisus scoparius_, but under its then Latin name of _Planta genista_ it gave its name to the Plantagenet family, either in the time of Henry II., as generally reported, or probably still earlier.

    The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Henry Nicholson Ellacombe 1868

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