The Reed (Cytisus scoparius) is more of a shrub plant than a tree but still considered sacred to Wicca/Witchcraft and was revered by the ancients of long ago. The reed symbolizes Purification, Protection, and Fertility. It also represents established power, wands, rods and scepters made from reeds were carried as symbols of authority. The common reed in England is called Broom and is better known by its folk name “Scotch Broom”.
Broom is a densely growing shrub plant indigenous to England and the temperate regions of Europe and northern Asia. It can be being found in abundance on sandy pastures and heaths were it commonly grows wild. In the sandy soils of America due to its proliferation, the broom has been regulated as a “Class B” noxious weed under state law, and is designated for control in most counties of Washington and Oregon where Local, County and State weed control boards have regulations controlling its movement and harvest.
The broom is a member of the Leguminosae family, which includes beans, peas, clover, vetch, locust, lupine, acacia and alfalfa. These plants convert nitrogen from air into a form they can use for growth, making them hardy and able to invade and flourish in harsh areas. Broom is also the only native medicinal plant used as an official drug. The Latinized name “Scoparius” is derived from the Latin word “scopa”, meaning “besom” (hence the common folk name broom), and “Cytisus“ is said to be a corruption of the name of the Greek island “Cythnus” where broom once abounded.
As a young plant the broom will often spend 2 to 4 years in a grass-like state until it establishes an extensive root system, once established it can grow from 12 to 30 inches a year and attain heights of over 8 feet. Most plants have a single base with many upwardly spreading stems or branches. The stems are bright green, long, straight and slender, but are tough and very flexible. Many of the brooms stems are leafless or have few leaves, those that do develop new leaves by late April, dark green in color they spiral up the plant's stem from its base. The leaves are hairy when young and the lower ones are shortly stalked with small oblong trifoliolate leaflets. The upper leaves near the tips of the stem are sessile, smaller and often reduced to a single leaflet. Most leaves fall off after a frost or during a severe drought.
The fragrant flowers of the bloom are about ¾ inch long and range in color from light yellow to orange with crimson wings. The shape of the flower is irregular with a top banner petal, two side wing petals, and two keel petals on the bottom likened to a butterfly. The flowers and are in bloom from April to July and occur on plants as young as 2 years old, growing more abundantly on plants of 4 years old or more. The flowers have a great attraction for bees for while they contain no honey, they hold an abundance of pollen.
The flowers are followed by flat oblong seedpods about 1½ - 2 inches long, these are hairy on the edges but smooth on the sides. The pods are brown and nearly black when mature and each contains several seeds. The seeds are oval about ⅛ inch long, dark greenish-brown and have a shiny surface. The pods begin to dry out as the seeds inside mature and starts to warp in different directions, eventually forced open the seeds burst out with a sharp report flinging themselves up to a distance of 4 to 12 feet away. The continuous crackling of the bursting seed-vessels on a hot sunny day is readily noticeable. Because of their hard shells seeds can remain viable in the soil for more than 50 years before they germinate. This long-term viability enables the broom to re-populate areas even after they have been cleared and even when no plants are visible on the site.
There are two principle chemicals present in broom, which makes it toxic to both humans and animals; these are “Sparteine” and “Scoparin”. Sparteine is a transparent liquid alkaloid, oily, colorless when fresh and turns brown on exposure. It has an aniline-like odor and a very bitter taste. The amount of Sparteine present depends much upon external conditions, those grown in the shade produce less than those grown in sunny places. Sparteine forms certain salts of which the sulfate is used in medicine (as listed in the British and the United States Pharmacopoeia’s). It occurs in colorless crystals that are readily soluble in water. “Oxysparteine” (formed by the action of acid on Sparteine) is used medicinally as a cardiac stimulant.
Scoparin the other principal constituent is a glucoside, occurring in pale-yellow crystals that are colorless and tasteless, soluble in alcohol and hot water. It represents most of the diuretic properties of the broom. The flowers of broom contain volatile oil, fatty matter, wax, chlorophyll, a yellow coloring matter, tannin, mucilage, albumen and lignin. Scoparin and Sparteine is also present in them. Broom also contains a large amount of alkaline and earthy matter, which on incineration yields about 3 per cent of ash containing about 29 per cent of carbonate of potash.
Today there are many differing species of broom and the identification and naming of brooms in literature has undergone steady change resulting in considerable confusion. Due to the toxicity of some species it is important to recognize that there are other brooms and that different names for the same plants can be found. There are also a great number of brooms grown for ornamental purposes. Some of the more common brooms are:
Portuguese Broom (Cytisus striatus), this is a Scotch broom look-alike except for the seedpods. These are inflated and hairy all over giving the plant the appearance of being covered with pussy willow buds. Its stems are more silvery, but this is difficult to distinguish until after leaves and flowers fall off.
French Broom (Genista monspessulana), these are very leafy and retain their leaves the entire year. All its leaves are trifoliolate, whereas Portuguese and Scotch brooms have simple leaves or trifoliolate leaves only on the lower part of the plants. Its flowers are yellow but smaller than those of Scotch broom, and appear well before-in March and April. The stems are finer and not as erect as those of Scotch broom. The Genista species is the one most referred to in ancient texts.
Spanish Broom (Spartium junceum), this plant is the most drought-resistant of the broom species. It has coarse thick stems that are round and almost leafless. Its flowers are similar in size to Scotch broom but less numerous.
Physical Uses:
The broom is such a versatile plant that it has many uses. It is commonly planted on the sides of steep banks were its roots serve to hold the earth together. On some parts of the coast it is one of the first plants to grow on sand-dunes after such has been consolidated on the surface by the interlacing stems of mat grasses and other sand-binding plants. It will flourish within reach of sea spray, and like gorse, broom is a good sheltering plant for seaside growth. Inland it is grown extensively as a shelter for game, and in fresh plantations among more important species of shrubs, to protect them from the wind till fully established.
The broom seldom grows large enough to furnish useful wood but when its stems acquire a sufficient size, it is beautifully veined and being very hard provides the cabinetmaker with a most valuable material for veneering. Of old, its most popular use was for making brooms and brushes, and was commonly used for basketwork, especially on the island of Madeira. In the north of England and Scotland it was used for thatching cottages and making fences or screens.
The bark of the Scotch broom yields an excellent fiber, which is finer but not so strong as that of the Spanish Broom. The bark is easily separated from the stem or twigs by macerating them in water. This has been done since ancient times, and from its fibers paper and cloth was manufactured. The fibers were also used to make quill-pens as used by the old scribes. The bark contains a considerable amount of tannin, which was used of old for tanning leather. The leaves or young tops yielded a green dye, used of old to color clothing.
Myths, Folklore and History:
The reed/broom has always been associated with music, for since time began pipes and flutes were made from reeds. In mythology we see a connection to reeds through the panpipes of the Greek god Pan (Roman god Faunus). In legend Pan had a contest with Apollo to determine who could play the most skillful and sweetest music, Pan on his reed pipes or Apollo on his lyre. Pan was judged to be the winner, which Apollo considered an insult. In rage Apollo turned Pan into half a man and half a goat. In art, Pan is often depicted with the legs, horns and beard of goat.
To the Greeks Pan was a god of the woodlands, pastures, herds and fertility. Hills, caves, oaks, reeds and tortoises are all sacred to him. In another legend Pan fought with the gods of Olympus during their battle against the Titans, during which he fashioned a giant seashell into a trumpet. Pan raised such a noise with it that the Titans thought they were being attacked by a sea monster and fled in terror. The word “panic” is said to have come from this myth.
Pan is thought to be the offspring of Hermes and his cult was centered in Arcadia were he haunted the woodlands, hills and mountains. After sleeping at noon, he would then dance through the woods playing the panpipes. Pan was a lusty leader of satyrs and loved nothing better than chasing nymphs; from this he became associated with Dionysus/Bacchus. Pan’s symbol was the phallus, and of old he was invoked for the fertility of flocks or an abundant hunt. Every region in Greece had its own Pan, who was known by various names, and eventually he came to symbolize the universal god of nature, the Horned God.
In folklore the Pied Piper of Hamelin played a magickal tune on a pipe made from reeds, and rid the town of a plague of rats. As the story goes in 1284 the Pied Piper was hired to rid the town of Hamelin of a plague of rats. He walked through the streets playing a magickal tune on his pipe, and on hearing the music all the rats followed him. The piper led the rats all the way to the banks of the river Weser, where all the rats fell in and were drowned. Although the town council had agreed to pay the piper, they changed their minds once the task was done and refused to pay him.
In retaliation the piper played a different tune on his pipe and again set off through the streets of the town. This time on hearing the music all the children of the town started to follow. The piper led the children out of the town and into the foothills of the mountains, there a door in the side of the mountain opened and the piper and all the children vanished. After their disappearance the spirits of the piper and children haunted the town of Hamelin. From this story the magickal qualities of the reed and music can be discerned. In magic the reed is associated with spells, divination and the exorcism of poltergeist.
Throughout history the reed/broom has featured as a heraldic device, and was adopted at a very early period as the badge of Brittany. Geoffrey the 5th count of Anjou thrust it into his helmet at the moment of going into battle so that his troops might see and follow him. As he plucked it from a steep bank which its roots had knitted together, he is reputed to have said: “This golden plant rooted firmly amid rock, yet upholding what is ready to fall, shall be my cognizance. I will maintain it on the field, in the tourney and in the court of justice”.
From Geoffrey of Anjou and his wife the empress Matilda, daughter of the English king Henry I, the Plantagenet royal dynasty began. However, the name Plantagenet was not hereditary and is thought to have originated from his nickname, given after the sprig of broom he wore in his hat or to his practice of planting brooms to improve his hunting covers. The old Medieval Latin name for broom was Planta genista; from which it is thought Plantagenet was derived. The broom is depicted on the Great Seal of Richard I, this being its first official heraldic appearance in England.
Some historians differ on the naming of Kings as Plantagenet, some giving the name to Count Geoffrey's descendants beginning with Edward I. Richard Plantagenet or Richard 3rd Duke of York was the first to use the surname officially when he claimed the throne in 1460. The Plantagenet dynasty ended when the last legitimate male heir, Edward Earl of Warwick was executed in 1499. Another origin is claimed for the heraldic use of the broom in Brittany, in that a prince of Anjou assassinated his brother and seized his kingdom. Overcome by remorse he made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in expiation of his crime. Every night on the journey he scourged himself with a brush of “genets” or “genista”, and adopted the plant as his badge in perpetual memory of his repentance.
St. Louis of France continued the heraldic use of the broom as a symbol of chivalry and honor, and on the occasion of his marriage in the year 1234 he founded a special order called the Colle de Genet. The collar of the order was decorated alternately of the fleur-de-lis of France and a broom-flower. His bodyguard of a hundred nobles also wore on their coats a broom-flower emblem with the motto “Exaltat humiles” and “He exalteth the lowly”. The order was held in high esteem and to be bestowed with it was regarded as a great honor. King Richard II was honored with it, and a broom plant with open empty pods can be seen ornamentally decorating his tomb in Westminster Abbey. In 1368 Charles V of France bestowed the insignia of the broom pod on his favorite chamberlain, and in 1389 Charles VI gave the same decoration to his kinsmen.
In Scotland the broom is the badge of the Forbes and according to Scottish lore, “it was the bonny broom which the Scottish clan of Forbes wore in their bonnets when they wished to arouse the heroism of their chieftains”. In their Gaelic dialect they called the broom “bealadh” in token of its beauty. “This humble shrub” writes Baines, “was not less distinguished than the Rose herself during the civil wars of the fourteenth century”.
Apart from its use in heraldry, the Broom has been associated with several popular traditions. In some parts it used to be considered a sign of plenty and fertility, for it bore many flowers and flourished quickly. The flowering tops were used for house decoration at the Whitsuntide festival, but it was considered unlucky to use them for menial purposes when in full bloom.
In Suffolk an old traditional rune tells us:
If you sweep the house with blossomed Broom in May,
You are sure to sweep the head of the house away.
In Christianity when Joseph and the Virgin Mary were fleeing into Egypt, the broom was cursed by the Virgin due to the cracking noise made by the pods as they touched them in passing, increasing the risk of drawing attention from Herod’s soldiers to their whereabouts.
Medicinal Uses:
The properties of broom as a healing herb was well known to the ancients, and recorded by such early writers as Virgil and Pliny who mention the species Genista. The medicinal use of broom is also mentioned in some of the earliest printed Herbals such like: the “Passau - 1485”, the “Hortus Sanitatis – 1491” and the “Grete Herball – 1516”. John Gerard in his Herbal first published in 1597 tells us that:
“The decoction of the twigs and tops of broom doth cleanse and open the liver, milt and kidnies”.
Gerard also says:
“The common Broom groweth almost everywhere in dry pastures and low woods. It flowers at the end of April or May, and then the young buds of the flowers are to be gathered and laid in pickle or salt, which afterwards being washed or boiled are used for salads as capers be and be eaten with no less delight”.
Broom buds of old were considered a favorite delicacy, and appeared on three separate tables at the Coronation feast of James II. They served a double purpose as an appetizer and a corrective.
Broom also had a place in the first London Pharmacopoeia of 1618, from which Culpepper made an unauthorized translation. His translation was published by Peter Cole in 1649 and called: A Physicall Directory. Later in his celebrated Herbal published in 1652 called: The English Physician, Culpepper considered a decoction of broom to be good not only for dropsy, but also for black jaundice, ague, gout, sciatica and various pains of the hips and joints.
Of old, farmers considered the green tops of broom a good winter food for sheep, preventing the appearance of rot and dropsy. The flowers of broom were used for making an unguent to cure the gout. Henry VIII used to drink a water infusion made from the flowers of broom, being purgative he believed it acted as a guard against his overindulgences. Some of the old physicians burned the tops to ashes and infused the salts they extracted in wine. They were known as Salts of Broom (Sal Genistae).
Bruised Broom seeds were formerly used infused in rectified spirit, allowed to stand two weeks and then strained. A tablespoonful in a glass of peppermint water was taken daily for liver complaints and ague. The seeds have similar properties to the tops and were used medicinally, although they are no longer used officially. They were also used as a substitute for coffee.
In its modern application the broom is used as a diuretic and cathartic medicine. Broom tops are used in the form of a decoction or infusion often mixed with Squill, together with Ammonium and Potassium acetate. It acts as a feeble diuretic used generally in dropsical complaints of cardiac origin. Due to the Scoparin it contains, the action on the renal mucous membrane is similar to that of Buchu and Uva-Ursi. The infusion is made from 1 oz. of dried broom tops to a pint of boiling water, and is taken in wine glassful doses frequently. When acute renal inflammation is present, it should not be given.
A compound decoction of broom is recommended in herbal medicine as beneficial in bladder and kidney afflictions, as well as in chronic dropsy. To make this use 1 oz. of Broom tops and ½ oz. of Dandelion roots and boil in one pint of water down to half a pint, add to this ½ oz. of bruised Juniper berries. When cold strain the decoction and add a small quantity of Cayenne. A wine glassful taken three or four times a day, should cure the problem.
The statements of different investigators both clinical and pharmacological, concerning the effects of the Sparteine in preparations of broom, have elicited opposing views on the effect upon the nerves and circulatory system. It is found to produce a transient rise in arterial pressure, followed by a longer period of decreased vascular tension. Small doses slow the heart for a short period of time and then hasten its rate, at the same time it increase the volume of the pulse. Those who advocate its employment, claim that it is useful as heart tonic and regulator in chronic valvular diseases.
In large doses Sparteine can cause vomiting and purging, as such it can weaken the heart, depress the nerve cells and lower the blood pressure. It has a strong resemblance to the action of Coniine (Hemlock) on the heart. In extreme cases it can impair the activity of the respiratory organs and cause death. Shepherds have long been aware of the narcotic properties of broom due to Sparteine, having noticed that sheep after eating it become at first excited and then stupefied, however the intoxicating effects in animals soon pass off.
Broom juice in large doses is apt to disturb the stomach and bowels, and is therefore more often used as an auxiliary to other diuretics, rather than used alone. Called (Infusum Scoparii) it is made by infusing the dried tops in boiling water for fifteen minutes and then straining. It was introduced into the British Pharmacopoeia of 1898 and replaced the decoctions of broom in the preceding issues.
“Caution” Regardless of what you read in books and articles such as this, before using any plant, herb or spice for medicinal purposes, specialized or professional advice should be sort. Experimentation is not an alternative to be considered when dealing with toxic plants.
Magical Uses:
In ritual wands made from reed/broom are used in purification and protection spells, and if working outdoors (the best place to perform magic) sweeping the ground with broom (if it grows nearby) will clear the area of unwanted influences. To raise the winds, throw some broom into the air while invoking the spirits of the Air, and to calm the winds burn some broom and bury the ashes.
Of old, broom was hung up in the house to keep all evil influences out, and an infusion of broom sprinkled throughout the house was used to exorcise poltergeist activity. An infusion of broom was also drunk to increase psychic powers and awareness through its intoxication properties, but this is no longer recommended as the plant can also be poisonous.
The reed/broom is known by many folk names: Banal, Basam, Besom, Bisom, Bizzon, Breeam, Broom Tops, Brum, Genista, Green Broom, Irish Broom, Link, Scotch Broom and Hog Weed. Its gender is Masculine. Its planet association is with Mars. Its element association is Air. Its deity associations are with: Pan, Hermes, Apollo and Dionysus/Bacchus. It is used to attract the powers needed for: Purification, Protection, Fertility, Wind, Divination and all Magickal Spells associated the element Air.
Astrologically reed people (i.e. those born in the month of October) are practical people who enjoy making themselves useful to others. They will often be found organizing charity or other events. They love to use their hands and are not afraid to get them dirty, and have always been good at handicrafts. Others are attracted to them for their artistic abilities, and they can also be very imaginative.
