BROOM  , known botanically as Cytisus, or Sarothamnus, scoparius, a member of the natural

order Leguminosae, a shrub found on heaths and commons in the British Isles, and also in Europe (except the north) and temperate Asia . The leaves are small, and the function of carbon-assimilating is shared by the green stems . The bright yellow flowers scatter their pollen by an explosive mechanism; the weight of a bee alighting on the flower causes the keel to split and the pollen to be shot out on to the insect's body . When ripe the black pods explode with a sudden twisting of the valves and scatter the seeds . The twigs have a bitter and nauseous taste and have long had a popular reputation as a diuretic; the seeds have similar properties . " Butcher's broom," a very different plant, known botanically as Ruscus aculeatus, is a member of the natural order Liliaceae . It is a small evergreen shrub found in copses and woods, but rare Cytisus scoparius, Common Broom . 1 . Two-lipped calyx . 5 . Monadelphous stamens . 2 .

Broadly ovate

vexillum or 6 . Hairy ovary with the long standard. style, thickened upwards, 3 . One of the alae or wings of the and spirally curved . corolla . 7 . Legume or pod . 4 . Carina or keel . in the southern half of England . The stout angular stems bear leaves reduced to small scales, which subtend flattened leaf-like branches (cladodes) with a sharp apex . The small whitish flowers are borne on the face of the cladodes, and are succeeded by a bright red berry .