Eden Apothecary · Herb Profile
Cytisus scoparius
Also known as Scotch Broom, Common Broom
Pronounced Broom: BROOM (Scotch Broom: SKOTCH BROOM). Cytisus scoparius: SIT-ih-sus sko-PAIR-ee-us.
Warm, drying, and toning: a narrow-margin, cardioactive, specialist stimulant that drains dropsical fluid through the kidneys, steadies a feeble and irregular heartbeat, and tightens the lax, atonic vessels and uterus of a cold, boggy, waterlogged terrain.
Contraindicated. Broom contains the quinolizidine alkaloid sparteine, a potent oxytocic that stimulates uterine contraction and was itself used clinically through the 1970s to induce and augment labor before being abandoned for its hazards; it is regarded as an abortifacient and uterine stimulant. Modern safety references classify Cytisus scoparius as contraindicated in pregnancy (AHPA Botanical Safety Handbook, 2nd ed.; Brinker, Herbal Contraindications and Drug Interactions; the German Commission E). Avoid entirely in pregnancy.
Avoid. There is no reliable human safety data for broom during lactation, and the herb carries pharmacologically active alkaloids (sparteine) and pressor amines (tyramine); Brinker lists broom among herbs to avoid while nursing. Given the potency and narrow margin, avoid therapeutic use during breastfeeding (insufficient data; avoid).
Not recommended. There is no established pediatric dosing, and broom is a narrow-margin, cardioactive, potentially toxic herb whose alkaloid affects heart rhythm; children are more vulnerable to its cardiac and emetic-cathartic toxicity. Do not use in children (insufficient data; avoid), and treat accidental ingestion of the plant or seeds as a poisoning.
This is a potent, narrow-margin, cardioactive herb, not a gentle household tonic. Its alkaloid sparteine acts on the electrical conduction of the heart much like the class 1A antiarrhythmic quinidine and can provoke dangerous rhythm disturbances, and it is a powerful oxytocic that contracts the uterus. Its biogenic amines (tyramine, dopamine) can raise blood pressure. Doses are small and the margin between effect and toxicity is narrow: large doses are emetic, cathartic, and can cause staggering, dimmed vision, sweating, a slowed or disordered heartbeat, and collapse. Use only under qualified practitioner supervision, never as casual self-medication, and never for self-treatment of heart failure or dropsy, which are medical emergencies in the making. The closely related seeds and the ornamental brooms should not be substituted or eaten.
Pregnancy (the sparteine is a strong uterine stimulant and potential abortifacient). Hypertension and abnormal blood pressure (its tyramine and alkaloids can raise blood pressure). Cardiac conduction disorders, atrioventricular block, and serious arrhythmia (sparteine alters cardiac conduction). Concurrent monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) therapy (tyramine content risks a hypertensive crisis). Concurrent digoxin, antiarrhythmic, beta-blocker, or calcium-channel-blocker therapy without supervision (additive effects on heart rate and rhythm). Not for casual self-dosing at any time.
Cytisus scoparius is in no way at risk; it is a vigorous, nitrogen-fixing invasive shrub listed as a noxious weed across the Pacific Northwest and California, Australia, and New Zealand, where it displaces native vegetation. It is not on the United Plant Savers at-risk list. Harvesting the flowering tops from wild or naturalized stands is ecologically harmless and can even aid control efforts, so there is no sustainability concern; take freely from invasive stands and never cultivate or spread it.
Not the broom of Scripture. The biblical broom tree (Hebrew rothem, sometimes rendered juniper), under which Elijah lay down in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:4-5) and whose roots and coals appear in Job 30:4 and Psalm 120:4, is Retama raetam, the white broom of the Sinai and Mediterranean desert, a different genus. Cytisus scoparius is a plant of western and central Europe, carried into Western medicine through the Eclectic and European herbals (Grieve, Commission E) rather than through the biblical tradition; cited honestly as a European medicinal, not a Holy Land plant.
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