Genisteae is a

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

trees In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are u ...

, shrubs and herbaceous plants in the subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

of the family Fabaceae. It includes a number of well-known plants including broom, lupine (lupin), gorse and

laburnum ''Laburnum'', sometimes called golden chain or golden rain, is a genus of two species of small trees in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are '' Laburnum anagyroides''—common laburnum and '' Laburnum alpinum''� ...

. The tribe's greatest diversity is in the Mediterranean, and most genera are native to Europe, Africa, the Canary Islands, India and southwest Asia. However, the largest genus, ''Lupinus'', is most diverse in North and South America. ''Anarthrophytum'' and ''Sellocharis'' are also South American and ''Argyrolobium'' ranges into India.

Description

The Genisteae arose 32.3 ± 2.9 million years ago (in the Oligocene). The members of this tribe consistently form a monophyletic clade in molecular phylogenetic analyses. The tribe does not currently have a node-based definition, but several morphological synapomorphies have been identified:

… bilabiate calyces with a bifid upper lip and a trifid lower lip, … the lack of an aril, or the presence of an aril but on the short side of the seed, and stamen filaments fused in a closed tube with markedly dimorphic anthers … and presence of α- pyridone alkaloids.

Most (and possibly all) genera in the tribe produce 5-''O''-methylgenistein. Many genera also accumulate

quinolizidine alkaloids Quinolizidine alkaloids are natural products that have a quinolizidine structure; this includes the lupine alkaloids. Occurrence Quinolizidine alkaloids can be found in the plant family of legumes, especially in papilionaceous plants. While t ...

, ammodendrine-type di

piperidine Piperidine is an organic compound with the molecular formula (CH2)5NH. This heterocyclic amine consists of a six-membered ring containing five methylene bridges (–CH2–) and one amine bridge (–NH–). It is a colorless liquid with an odor de ...

alkaloids, and macrocyclic

pyrrolizidine alkaloids Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs), sometimes referred to as necine bases, are a group of naturally occurring alkaloids based on the structure of pyrrolizidine. Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are produced by plants as a defense mechanism against insect he ...

Name

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

' is from a common

West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...

' (Old High German ', "bramble"), from a Germanic stem ' from Proto-Indo-European ''*bh(e)rem-'' "to project; a point", with an original sense of "thorny shrub" or similar. Use of the branches of these plants for sweeping gave rise to the term

broom A broom (also known in some forms as a broomstick) is a cleaning tool consisting of usually stiff fibers (often made of materials such as plastic, hair, or corn husks) attached to, and roughly parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. I ...

for sweeping tools in the 15th century, gradually replacing Old English ' (which survives as dialectal or archaic ''

besom A besom () is a broom, a household implement used for sweeping. The term is now mostly reserved for a traditional broom constructed from a bundle of twigs tied to a stout pole. The twigs used could be broom (i.e. '' Genista'', from which comes ...

'').

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 (e.g.

mine tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overl ...

) and sand dune stabilising. Tagasaste ('' Chamaecytisus proliferus''), a Canary Islands native, is widely grown as sheep fodder. Species of broom popular in horticulture are purple broom ('' Chamaecytisus purpureus''; purple flowers), Atlas broom (or Moroccan broom) ('' Argyrocytisus battandieri'', with silvery foliage), dwarf broom ('' Cytisus procumbens''), Provence broom ('' Cytisus purgans'') and Spanish broom (''

Spartium junceum ''Spartium junceum'', known as Spanish broom, rush broom, or weaver's broom, it is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and the sole species in the genus ''Spartium''. It is closely related to the other brooms (in the genera '' Cy ...

''). 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

On the east and west coasts of North America, common broom (''Cytisus scoparius'') was introduced as an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

(e.g.:California since the 1860s). It is known in much of the

pacific northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

as Scotch broom. It has become a naturalised invasive weed, and due to its aggressive seed dispersal broom removal has proved very difficult. Similarly, it is a major problem species in the cooler and wetter areas of southern Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Biological control Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, such as insects, mites, weeds, and plant diseases, using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or other natural mechanisms, but typically also i ...

for broom in New Zealand has been investigated since the mid-1980s. On the west coast of the United States, French broom (''

Genista monspessulana ''Genista monspessulana'', commonly known as French broom, Montpellier broom, or Cape broom (Australia), is a woody leguminous perennial shrub. The yellow-flowering bush is native to the Mediterranean region, and while it may still be commonly ...

''), Mediterranean broom ('' Genista linifolia'') and Spanish broom (''

'') are also considered noxious invasives, as broom quickly crowds out native vegetation, and grow most prolifically in the least accessible areas. Mediterranean vegetation, Fondachelli Fantina, Sicily

Mediterranean vegetation, Fondachelli Fantina, Sicily

Historical uses

The

Plantagenet The House of Plantagenet () was a royal house which originated from the lands of Anjou in France. The family held the English throne from 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy) to 1485, when Richard III died in ...

kings used common broom (known as ' in Latin) as an emblem and took their name from it. It was originally the emblem of

Geoffrey of Anjou Geoffrey V (24 August 1113 – 7 September 1151), called the Handsome, the Fair (french: link=no, le Bel) or Plantagenet, was the count of Anjou, Count of Tours, Touraine and Count of Maine, Maine by inheritance from 1129, and also Duke of Nor ...

, father of

Henry II of England Henry II (5 March 1133 – 6 July 1189), also known as Henry Curtmantle (french: link=no, Court-manteau), Henry FitzEmpress, or Henry Plantagenet, was King of England from 1154 until his death in 1189, and as such, was the first Angevin king ...

. Wild broom is still common in dry habitats around Anjou, France.

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infa ...

and his son Charles VI of France used the pod of the broom plant (broom-cod, or ') as an emblem for livery collars and

badges A badge is a device or accessory, often containing the insignia of an organization, which is presented or displayed to indicate some feat of service, a special accomplishment, a symbol of authority granted by taking an oath (e.g., police and fi ...

. '' 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 ''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant. Its genus name, Isatis, derives from ...

or, later,

indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', m ...

) 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 Salmagundi (or salmagundy or sallid magundi) is a cold dish or salad made from different ingredients which may include meat, seafood, eggs, cooked vegetables, raw vegetables, fruits or pickles. In English culture, the term does not refer to a s ...

or "grand sallet" during the 17th and 18th century. There are now concerns about the toxicity of broom, with potential effects on the heart and problems during pregnancy. Scotch Broom is the Plant Badge of

Clan Forbes Clan Forbes is a Highland Scottish clan from Aberdeenshire, Scotland. History Origins The name Forbes is most probably a location name assumed from the lands of Forbes in Aberdeenshire, in possession of this family reputedly since the time ...

Description

Name

Cultivation

Invasive species

Historical uses

See also

Notes

References

Further reading