Tag: July

Rumex alpinus

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Botanical Name :Rumex alpinus
Family: Polygonaceae
Genus: Rumex
Species: R. alpinus
Kingdom:Plantae
Order: Caryophyllales

Synonyms: Herb Patience, Passion’s Dock.

Common Name :Monk’s-rhubarb, Munk’s rhubarb or Alpine dock

Habitat :Rumex alpinus is native to Central and Southern Europe and to Western Asia. It is naturalized in Britain.It can be found in arable land, fields, yards, rubbish dumps, roadsides and shores.This species prefers high-altitude environments rich in nitrates, at elevation of up to 2,000 to 2,400 metres (6,600 to 7,900 ft) above sea level.

Description
Rumex alpinus is a perennial plant with a creeping rhizome. It can reach a height of 60 to 200 centimetres (24 to 79 in). The stem is erect, striated and unbranched until just below the inflorescence. The leaves are very large, ovate-round, with long stout leaf stalks and irregular margins. The basal leaves have a hairless upper surface but have some hairs beside the veins on the lower surface. The upper leaves are alternate and are smaller and more elongated. Where their stalks meet the stem there is a membranous ochrea formed by the fusion of two stipules into a sheath which surrounds the stem and has a ragged upper margin. The flowers are arranged in much-branched, dense terminal compound panicles. The flowers are dioecious and anemophilous. The perianth segments are in two whorls of three. The outer ones are recurved and the inner ones form fruit valves, which are roundly, wider than long, with cordate bases and entire margins. There are six stamens, a pistil formed of three fused carpels, and three styles.

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It is hardy to zone 5 and is not frost tender. It is in flower in July, and the seeds ripen from Jul to August. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Wind.The fruits are brown, three-sided achenes.

There are about ten or eleven kinds of native Docks.

Cultivation:
A very easily grown and tolerant plant, it succeeds in most soils, preferring a moist moderately fertile well-drained soil in a sunny position. Hardy to about -20°c. Alpine dock was at one time cultivated for its edible leaves, though it has now fallen out of favour to be replaced by less strong-tasting plants. This is a pity because it is a very productive and useful vegetable and can produce its leaves all through the winter if the weather is not too severe. A very important plant for the caterpillars of many species of butterflies.

Propagation:
Seed – sow spring in a cold frame. The seed can also be sown as soon as it is ripe when it will germinate rapidly and will provide edible leaves from early spring the following year. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. Division in spring. Division is easy at almost any time of the year, though the plants establish more rapidly in the spring. Use a sharp spade or knife to divide the rootstock, ensuring that there is at least one growth bud on each section of root. Larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions. We have found it best to pot up the smaller divisions and grow them on in a lightly shaded position in a cold frame, planting them out once they are well established in the summer.

Edible Uses:
Leaves are eaten raw or cooked. They can also be kept dried for later use. A strong flavour, the leaves can be used in salads in late autumn to the spring, but are better cooked like spinach. The fresh leaves can be available for most months of the year, only dying down for a short period in severe winters[K]. The leaves often become bitter in the summer. In taste trials, this has proved to be a very popular autumn and spring cooked leaf, making an excellent spinach.

Medicinal Uses:
The root is astringent and laxative. It has a regulatory effect on the digestive system, similar to but weaker than rhubarb (Rheum rhaponticum). It can act either as a laxative or a cure for diarrhoea according to dosage. The root is harvested in early spring and dried for later use.

Other Uses:
Dye is made from the root. Brown and dark grey dyes can be obtained from the roots, they do not need a mordant

Known Hazards: Plants can contain quite high levels of oxalic acid, which is what gives the leaves of many members of this genus an acid-lemon flavour. Perfectly alright in small quantities, the leaves should not be eaten in large amounts since the oxalic acid can lock-up other nutrients in the food, especially calcium, thus causing mineral deficiencies. The oxalic acid content will be reduced if the plant is cooked. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition
Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/d/docks-15.html#pat
http://www.pfaf.org/user/plant.aspx?LatinName=Rumex+alpinus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumex_alpinus

Tags August, July, June, Leaf, List of leaf vegetables, Oxalic acid, Rumex, Southern Europe

Herbs & Plants

Ranunculus acris

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Botanical Name :Ranunculus acris
Family: Ranunculaceae
Genus: Ranunculus
Species: R. acris
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Ranunculales

Synonyms: Gold Cup. Grenouillette.

Common names: Meadow buttercup, tall buttercup and giant buttercup.

Habitat: This Buttercup is a native of meadows and pastures in all the northern parts of Europe, and is more common buttercups across Europe and temperate Eurasia. This plant normally grows in damp meadows and pastures, usually on calcareous or circum-neutral soils. Also found on damp rock ledges, in gullies and occasionally on mountain top detritus

Description:
Ranunculus acris is a perennial flowering plant, growing to 1 m (3ft 3in).The leaves vary a good deal in form, according to their position on the plant: the lower leaves are on long petioles (foot-stalks) and are comprised of numerous wide-spreading and deeply divided segments; the upper leaves are small, composed of few segments, simple in form and few in number. The root is perennial, though the plant itself dies down each autumn, and has many long, white fibres.

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It is in flower from May to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, beetles, lepidoptera. The petals of the flower are bright, shining yellow; the calyx is composed of five greenish-yellow spreading sepals. The centre of the flower, as in other Buttercups, is a clustering mass of stamens round the smooth, green immature seed-vessels, which develop into a round head of numerous small bodies called achenes. It is not frost tender.

Cultivation:
Prefers a moist loamy soil. Grows well in marshy soils. Plants are hardy to at least -20°c. A good plant for the summer meadow. It spreads rapidly by means of runners and is often a weed in lawns or gardens. A polymorphic species, there is at least one named variety. ‘Flore Pleno‘ is a double-flowered form that does not spread by runners and so is unlikely to become a nuisance in the garden. A greedy plant, inhibiting the growth of nearby plants, especially legumes.

Propagation:
Seed – sow spring in situ. You are very unlikely to need to encourage this plant. Division in spring. Very easy, though probably totally unnecessary, larger divisions can be planted out direct into their permanent positions.

Edible Uses:Leaves are cooked and used as greens. Some caution is advised, see the notes on Known Hazards below.

Medicinal Uses:

Part Used-: Whole herb.
The whole plant is acrid, anodyne, antispasmodic, diaphoretic and rubefacient. The plant has been crushed and applied as a poultice to the chest to relieve colds and chest pains. The fresh leaves have been used as a rubefacient in the treatment of rheumatism etc. The flowers and the leaves have been crushed and sniffed as a treatment for headaches. An infusion of the roots has been used in the treatment of diarrhoea. The poulticed root is also rubefacient and was applied to boils and abscess. The plant sap has been used to remove warts. The sap has also been used as a sedative. The flowers are used in Tibetan medicine, where they are considered to have an acrid taste and a heating potency. Their use is said to promote heat, dissolve tumours and draw out serous fluids. They are used in the treatment of disorders brought about by rotting sores or wounds. Use with caution, the whole plant is extremely acrid and can cause intense pain and burning of the mouth, mucous membranes etc.

The juice of the leaves takes away warts, and bruised together with the roots will act as a caustic. In violent headaches where pain is confined to one part, a plaster made of them often affords instant relief, and they have been used in gout with great success.

The fresh leaves formed part of a famous cure for cancer, practised by a Mr. Plunkett in 1794.

Thornton, in his Herbal of 100 years ago, says if a decoction of the plant be poured on ground containing worms, ‘they will be forced to rise from their concealment.’

Known Hazards: All parts of the plant are poisonous, the toxins can be destroyed by heat or by drying. The plant has a strongly acrid juice that can cause blistering to the skin.

Disclaimer:
The information presented herein is intended for educational purposes only. Individual results may vary, and before using any supplements, it is always advisable to consult with your own health care provider

Resources:
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Ranunculus+acris
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/croup120.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranunculus_acri

Tags Bees, Biology, Eurasia, July, Plant, Ranunculaceae, Ranunculus, Ranunculus acris

Herbs & Plants

Knautia arvensis

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Botanical Name : Knautia arvensis
Family: Dipsacaceae
Genus: Knautia
Species: K. arvensis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Dipsacales

Synonyms:Scabiosa arvensis.

(The generic name, Knautia, is derived from a Saxon botanist of the seventeenth century, Dr. Knaut. The name Scabious is supposed to be connected with the word ‘scab’ (a scaly sore), a word derived from the Latin scabies (a form of leprosy), for which and for other diseases of a similar character, some of these species were used as remedies.)

Common Name :Field Scabious

Habitat : Knautia arvensis is native to Europe, including Britain, north to latitude 69°, east to the Caucasus and W. Siberia.It bis found in meadows, pastures, hedgebanks and grassy hills, usually on dry soils and especially on limestone.

Description:
Knautia arvensis is a perennial plant that grows between 25 and 100 cm. It prefers grassy places and dry soils, avoiding heavy soils, and flowers between July and September. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, lepidoptera.It is noted for attracting wildlife. The flowered head is flatter than similar species Devils bit scabious and Small Scabious. There are 4 stamens in each flower, and 1 notched long stigma.

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The fruit is nut like, cylindrical and hairy, 5–6 mm in size.

It has a tap root. The stem has long stiff hairs angled downwards. There are no stipules.

The leaves form a basal rosette, are paired on the stem, the lowest typically 300 mm long, spear shaped, whereas the upper are smaller.

It is occasionally used by the Marsh Fritillary as a foodplant instead of its usual foodplant of Devils Bit Scabious (Succisa pratensis). It is also the foodplant of the Narrow-bordered Bee Hawk-moth Hemaris tityus.

It is hardy to zone 6.

Cultivation:
Succeeds in any well-drained soil. Prefers a dry soil. Grows well on chalky soils. Prefers a sunny position. A very cold-hardy plant, tolerating temperatures down to at least -25°c. Grows well in the summer meadow. The plant is an important source of nectar and pollen for bees and lepidoptera. The plants are sometimes dioecious, if this is the case then male and female plants will need to be grown if seed is required.

Propagation:
Seed – sow spring or autumn in a cold frame. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and plant them out in the summer. If you have enough seed it would be worthwhile trying a sowing in situ outdoors in the spring. The seed germinates in the spring in the wild. Division in the spring. Basal cuttings in late spring. Harvest the shoots when they are about 10 – 15cm long with plenty of underground stem. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer.

Medicinal Uses:

Part Used: Herb.

The whole plant is astringent and mildly diuretic. An infusion is used internally as a blood purifier and externally for treating cuts, burns and bruises. The fresh or dried flowering plant can be used, with or without the roots. A homeopathic remedy is made from the plant. It is used as a blood purifier and as a treatment for eczema and other skin disorders.

Gerard tells us: ‘The plant gendereth scabs, if the decoction thereof be drunke certain daies and the juice used in ointments.’ We are told that this juice ‘being drunke, procureth sweat, especially with Treacle, and atenuateth and maketh thin, freeing the heart from any infection or pestilence.’ Culpepper informs us also that it is ‘very effectual for coughs, shortness of breath and other diseases of the lungs,’ and that the ‘decoction of the herb, dry or green, made into wine and drunk for some time together,’ is good for pleurisy. The green herb, bruised and applied to any carbuncle was stated by him to dissolve the same ‘in three hours’ space,’ and the same decoction removed pains and stitches in the side. The decoction of the root was considered a cure for all sores and eruptions, the juice being made into an ointment for the same purpose. Also, ‘the decoction of the herb and roots outwardly applied in any part of the body, is effectual for shrunk sinews or veins and healeth green wounds, old sores and ulcers.’ The juice of Scabious, with powder of Borax and Samphire, was recommended for removing freckles, pimples and leprosy, the head being washed with the same decoction, used warm, for dandruff and scurf, etc.

Resources:

http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Knautia+Arvensis

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/scafie29.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knautia_arvensis

Tags Caucasus, July, Knautia, Marsh Fritillary, Plant, September, Soil, Succeeds

Herbs & Plants

Iberis amara

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Botanical Name : Iberis amara
Family: Brassicaceae/Cruciferae
Genus: Iberis
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Brassicales

Common Name :candytuft.The name “candytuft” is not related to candy, but derives from Candia, the former name of Iraklion on the Island of Crete

Habitat: Found in various parts of Europe and in English and Scotch cornfields, specially in limestone districts.

Description:
Iberis amara is an annual plant.This plant is an erect, rather stiff, very bitter, 6 to 12 inches high; flowers milky white, forming a terminal flat corymb; leaves oblong, lanceolate, acute, toothed; pod nearly orbicular, the long style projecting from notch at top; it flowers with the corns.

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It is hardy to zone 7 and is not frost tender. It is in flower from Jun to July. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees.

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils and can grow in very alkaline soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil.

Easily grown in a good, well-drained ordinary garden soil in a sunny position. Prefers a calcareous soil but tolerates mildly acid soils. Succeeds in poor soils and on dry walls. A very ornamental plant. A fast growing plant, do not grow the plants too close together. The flowers are sweetly scented.

Propagation:
Seed – sow spring in situ for summer flowering or late summer in situ for a spring flowering. The seed germinates within 3 weeks.

Edible Uses :
Edible Uses: Condiment.
The seeds are sometimes used as a source of mustard. Pungency of mustard develops when cold water is added to the ground-up seed – an enzyme (myrosin) acts on a glycoside (sinigrin) to produce a sulphur compound. The reaction takes 10 – 15 minutes. Mixing with hot water or vinegar, or adding salt, inhibits the enzyme and produces a mild bitter mustard

Medicinal Uses:
Antiarrhythmic; Antiasthmatic; Antirheumatic; Antiscorbutic; Homeopathy.

Little used in modern herbalism, rocket candytuft is a bitter-tasting tonic, aiding digestion and relieving wind and bloating. It is traditionally taken to treat gout, rheumatism and arthritis. All parts of the plant are antirheumatic and antiscorbutic. The seeds are considered very useful in the treatment of asthma, bronchitis and dropsy. The plant is gathered in the summer and can be dried for later use. The seeds are harvested when fully ripe. A common homeopathic remedy is made from the seeds.

According to the US Dispensatory (1918), the leaves, stem, and root are said to possess medicinal properties, but the seeds are most efficacious.It has always been used for gout, rheumatism and kindred ailments, and is now usually combined with other plants for the same diseases in their acute form, and as a simple to allay excited action of the heart, especially when it is enlarged. For asthma, bronchitis and dropsy it is considered very useful. In large doses it is said to produce giddiness, nausea, and diarrhea, and to be useful in cardiac hypertrophy, asthma, and bronchitis in doses of from one to three grains (0.065—0.2 Gm.) of the seed. Currently the foliage and stalks are employed in German phytomedicine as a bitter digestive tonic.

A tincture made from the ripe seeds is much used in homoeopathy, but the plant is more generally used by American herbalists. All parts of the plant are used, leaves, stem, root and seeds, more particularly the latter.

Other Uses:
Iberis amara provides nourishment for a number of insect species of which the rare Euchloe tagis butterfly is the most striking example as it is monophagous on species in this genu.They are excellent for rock gardens, bedding and borders in full sun or light shade. Candytuft is a cold hardy, fast-growing annual with lance shaped green leaves. It reaches a height of about 12 inches with a spread of about 6 inches.

Resourcs:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberis
http://www.pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Iberis+amara
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/canbit17.html

Tags Botanical name, Garden, July, PH, Plant, Seed, Shopping, United States

Herbs & Plants

Cytisus scoparius

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Botanical Name :Cytisus scoparius
Family: Fabaceae
Genus: Cytisus
Species: C. scoparius
Kingdom: Plantae
Order: Fabales

Synonyms-: Spartium scoparium (Linn.). Genista scoparius (Lam.). Sarothamnus scoparius (Koch). Broom Tops. Irish Tops. Basam. Bisom. Bizzom. Browme. Brum. Breeam. Green Broom. Sarothamnus scoparius

Common Names: Common broom or Scotch broom

Habitat : Cytisus scoparius is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils at low altitudes. In some places outside of its native range, such as India, South America and western North America, it has become an ecologically destructive colonizing invasive species in grassland, shrub and woodland, and other habitats.

As a legume, this shrub can fix nitrogen in the soil through a symbiotic relationship with Rhizobium bacteria.

Description:
Cytisus scoparius grows to a height of 3 to 5 feet and produces numerous long, straight, slender bright green branches, tough and very flexible, smooth and prominently angled. The leaves are alternate, hairy when young the lower ones shortly stalked, with three small, oblong leaflets, the upper ones, near the tips of the branches, sessile and small, often reduced to a single leaflet. Professor G. Henslow (Floral Rambles in Highways and Byways) says with reference to the ‘leaves’ of the broom: ‘It has generally no leaves, the green stems undertaking their duties instead. If it grows in wet places, it can develop threefoliate leaves.’ The large bright yellow, papilionaceous, fragrant flowers, in bloom from April to July, are borne on axillary footstalks, either solitary or in pairs, and are succeeded by oblong, flattened pods, about 1 1/2 inch long, hairy on the edges, but smooth on the sides. They are nearly black when mature. They burst with a sharp report when the seeds are ripe flinging them to a distance by the spring-iike twisting of the valves or sides of the pods. The continuous crackling of the bursting seed-vessels on a hot, sunny July day is readily noticeable. The flowers have a great attraction for bees, they contain no honey, but abundance of pollen.

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‘In flowers without honey, such as the Broom, there is a curious way of “exploding” to expel the pollen. In the Broom the stigma lies in the midst of the five anthers of the longer stamens, and when a bee visits the flower those of the shorter explode and disperse their pollen on the bee pressing upon the closed edges of the keel petal. “The shock is not enough to drive the bee away . . . The split now quickly extends further . . . when a second and more violent explosion occurs.” The style was horizontal with a flattened end below the stigma; but when freed from restraint it curls inwards, forming more than a complete spiral turn. It springs up and strikes the back of the bee with its stigma. The bee then gathers pollen with its mouth and legs.’ (From The Fertilization of Flowers, by Professor H. Mueller, pp. 195-6)

Cultivation Broom is most easily raised from seed, sown broadcast in the open air, as soon as ripe. Seedlings may be transplanted in autumn or spring to their permanent position. Prune directly after flowering, if the shoots have not been gathered for medicinal use, shortening the old shoots to the base of promising young ones.

As their roots strike down deeply into the ground, the plants can be grown in dry, sandy soil, where others will not grow. They do well on rough banks.

Broom may also be increased by layers. Choice garden varieties are generally increased by cuttings inserted in cold frames in September.

Constituents: Broom contains two principles on which its activity depends. Sparteine, discovered in 1851 by Stenhouse, of which about 0.03 per cent is present, is a transparent, oily liquid, colourless when fresh, turning brown on exposure, of an aniline-like odour and a very bitter taste. It is but slightly soluble in water, but readily soluble in alcohol and ether. Stenhouse stated that the amount of Sparteine in Broom depends much upon external conditions, that grown in the shade yielding less than that produced in sunny places.

Scoparin, the other principal constituent, is a glucoside, occurring in pale-yellow crystals, colourless and tasteless, soluble in alcohol and hot water. It represents most of the direct diuretic activity of Broom.

Volatile oil, tannin, fat, wax, sugar, etc., are also present. Broom contains a very large quantity of alkaline and earthy matter, on incineration yielding about 3 per cent of ash, containing 29 per cent of carbonate of potash.

Sparteine forms certain salts of which the sulphate (official in the British and the United States Pharmacopceias) is most used in medicine. It occurs in colourless crystals, readily soluble in water.

Oxysparteine (formed by the action of acid on Sparteine) is used as a cardiac stimulant.

The flowers contain volatile oil fatty matter, wax, chlorophyll, yellow colouring matter, tannin, a sweet substance, mucilage, albumen and lignin. Scoparin and the alkaloid sparteine have been separated from them.

Part Used Medicines :The young, herbaceous tips of the flowering branches are collected in early spring, generally in May, as they contain most alkaloid at the close of the winter. They are used officially both in the fresh and dried state.

Broom Juice (Succus Scoparii) is directed to be obtained by pressing out the bruised, fresh tops, adding one-third volume of alcohol and setting aside for seven days, filtering before use.

For the expression of the juice the fresh tops may be gathered in June. Broom Juice is official in the British, French, German and United States Pharmacopoeias.

Infusion of Broom (Infusum Scoparii) is made by infusing the dried tops with boiling water for fifteen minutes and then straining. It was introduced in the British Pharmacopoeia of 1898, in place of the decoction of Broom of the preceding issues.

The Fluid Extract of Broom of the United States Pharmacopceia is prepared from the powdered dried tops.

The drug, as it appears in commerce, consists of very long, much-branched, tough and flexible twigs, which lie parallel with and close to one another and are about 1/25 to 1/12 inch thick, narrowly five-winged, with alternating, slight nodes, dark-green and usually naked; internally, greenish-white.

When fresh, the whole plant has a strong and peculiar odour, especially when bruised, which almost entirely disappears on drying.

The tops are dark green when fresh and dark brownish-green when dried.

The quality of the drug deteriorates with keeping, and this condition can be determined by the partial or complete loss of the slight, peculiar odour of the recently dried drug.

The deep yellow flowers, dried, are considerably employed separately, under the name Flores Genistae, or Flores Scoparii.

Broom Seeds are used sometimes and are as active as the tops. Water and alcohol extract their active properties.

Medicinal Action and Uses: Diuretic and cathartic. Broom tops are used in the form of decoction and infusion, often with squill and ammonium and potassium acetate, as a feeble diuretic, generally in dropsical complaints of cardiac origin. The action is due to the Scoparin contained, whose action on the renal mucous membrane is similar to that of Buchu and Uva-Ursi.

The infusion is made from 1 OZ. of the dried tops to a pint of boiling water, taken in wineglassful doses frequently. When acute renal inflammation is present, it should not be given.

Broom Juice, in large doses, is apt to disturb the stomach and bowels and is therefore more often used as an adjuvant to other diuretics than alone.

A compound decoction of Broom is recommended in herbal medicine as of much benefit in bladder and kidney affections, as well as in chronic dropsy. To make this, 1 OZ. Broomtops and 1/2 oz. of Dandelion Roots are boiled in one pint of water down to half a pint, adding towards the last, 1/2 oz. of bruised Juniper berries. When cold, the decoction is strained and a small quantity of cayenne added. A wineglassful is taken three or four times a day.

The statements of different investigators, both clinical and pharmacological, concerning the effects of the Sparteine in preparations of Broom, have elicited absolutely 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 and at the same time increase the volume of the pulse. Those who advocate its employment claim that it is a useful heart tonic and regulator in chronic valvular disease. It has no cumulative action, like Digitalis.

In large doses, Sparteine causes vomiting and purging weakens the heart, depresses the nerve cells and lowers the blood pressure and has a strong resemblance to the action of Conine (Hemlock) on the heart. In extreme cases, death is caused by impairing the activity of the respiratory organs. 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, but the intoxicating effects soon pass off.

Resources:
http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/broom-70.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytisus_scoparius