Broom.
Genista.
A COMMON naked-looking shrub that grows on waste grounds, and bears yellow flowers in May. It is two or three feet high. The stalks are very tough, angular, and green. The leaves are few, and they are also small; they grow three together, and stand at distances on the long and slender stalks. The flowers are numerous, they are shaped like a pea-blossom, and are of a beautiful bright yellow. The pods are flat and hairy.
The green stalks of broom, infused in ale or beer for the common drink, operate by urine, and remove obstructions of the liver and other parts; they are famous in the dropsy and jaundice. It is a common practice to burn them to ashes and infuse those ashes in white-wine; thus the fixed salt is extracted, and the wine becomes a kind of lee. This also works by urine more powerfully than the other, but the other is preferable for removing obstructions.
