A new broom sweeps clean but the old broom knows the corners. —Traditional Celtic saying

The broomstick (along with the jack o'lantern and the witch's hat) is one of the most recognizable symbols of our modern celebration of Halloween. But did you know that there is an herbal shrub called "broom"?

Scotch broom, sometimes called common broom (Cytisus scoparius), is a perennial shrub, growing six to ten feet tall, that served a variety of important household purposes. In its native Scotland, it was used for brooms, baskets, wattle fencing, and roof thatch. The golden pea-like flowers produced a yellow and green dye.

Broom was also thought to have magical properties. While the plant is toxic, the young petals are somewhat safer and were once used to produce an intoxicating narcotic drink. Roasted, the seeds substituted for coffee. Medicinally, the tops were infused as a treatment for dropsy (congestive heart failure) and kidney and bladder complaints.

In bloom, the plant represented plenty and abundance. According to The Modern Herbal, the flowers were used for house decoration at Whitsuntide, but if you used broom for a "menial purpose" at that time, you could find yourself in trouble: "If you sweep the house with blossomed Broom in May, You are sure to sweep the head of the house away." (Another useful plant, broomcorn, Sorghum vulgare, is also used to make brooms.)

The wild yellow broom is highly invasive, and you don't want it in your garden. But look for some of the hybrid cultivars in beautiful colors of red, maroon, and orange. You might want to try pickling them, following this recipe from 1736:

Mrs. McLintock's Pickled Broom Buds
Gather your Broom-buds about the first of May, pick them clean, sew a Linen Bag, put them in, lay them in a strong pickle of salt and Water, let them lie 5 or 6 Days, change the water every Day, boil them in salt and Water, till they be as green as Grass; then take as much wine Vinegar as you think will cover them, with a little Nutmeg, Cloves, Mace, Ginger; boil all with your Vinegar, and drain the Buds clean from the Water, and put them among the Vinegar, and let them boil awhile; so bottle them up.