Amateur Gardening – 20 July 2019

20 JULY 2019AMATEUR GARDENING 47

Crossword

...just for fun!
Witch’s broom

ACROSS

1 One of the genus subjects

of this week’s Miscellany! (7)

6 Genus of the Madagascar

jasmine houseplant (11)

7 Pit, well, or the like, in which

water or other liquid is

collected (4)

8 To make more solid, as in

being done to the soil whilst

planting plants (4)

9 The subjects of this week’s

Miscellany typically have this

vegetable flower! (3)

10 This in a lawn should be

levelled out, to avoid scalping

when mowing (4)

11 Melissa is lemon ____;

trillium is Indian ____; and

abies is the ____ of Gilead (4)

13 Shed, hut, greenhouse,

detached garage, and so on

(11)

14 In physical contact with, so

as to be supported by it, as in

a clematis and a wall, perhaps!

(7)

DOWN

1 Thin-walled hollow organs

or cavities in plants (and

animals), containing liquid

secretions (5)

2 Device for recording the

temperature (11)

3 Not inviting or attractive,

as in a slug-infested potato,

or a mouldy strawberry,

perhaps! (11)

4 Trim aconite to get a

measurement system

divisible by 10! (11) (anag)

5 A 10 down, so to speak,

made from a bundle of

twigs tied on to a shaft (5)

10 A subject of this week’s

Miscellany! (5)

12 Sounds like a red spider

greenhouse pest with real

strength! (5)

Butcher’s broom

BUTCHER’S broom (Ruscus aculeatus) is a deep-green
evergreen shrub – with invisible leaves! What passes for
leaves are actually thick, leathery, flattened leaf-like stems
(cladodes). Female forms have big red berries, but the
male forms are just green and, actually, a little boring. You
need several to be sure of getting both sexes. And yes,
ruscus species were once grown so their stiff branches
could be used for cleaning butchering blocks.

ANSWERS TO ABOVE CROSSWORD

1 Cytisus 6 Stephanotis 7 Sump 8 Firm 9 Pea 10 Bump 11 Balm 13 ACROSS

Outbuilding 14 Against

1 Cysts 2 Thermometer 3 Unappealing 4 Metrication 5 Besom 10 Broom DOWN

12 Might

Wow! I didn’t know that...

Some 85% of brooms are bought in the eight weeks
when they are in bud or flower. They’re some of the
most impulsive of garden centre purchases as, when
not in flower, they are just pots of green sticks!
Fields of broom near the area now known as
Kensington in London gave us the name of ‘Broom
Town’, which became ‘Brompton’, as in Brompton Road,
Brompton Cemetery and the Brompton Oratory.
Many genista flowers ‘explode’ when
alighted on by an insect, covering it
with pollen. This is how many
brooms hybridise naturally.
Spartium junceum (pictured) is
the Spanish or weaver’s broom.
The junceum part means ‘rush-
like’, as its stems have a passing
resemblance to those of the rush
genus ( juncus).

A ‘WITCH’S broom’ is a deformity
in a tree or large shrub where a
dense mass of shoots grows
from a single point to form a
cluster of growths resembling a
thickly matted and oversized bird’s
nest. Caused by many different types of
organism, from fungi, insects, mites, nematodes and
viruses, even to parasites (such as mistletoe), the deformity
may last for the rest of the life of the host plant. Humans
are responsible, too: by improper pruning and weakening
of the tree, or failing to observe hygienic practice and
thereby infecting the tree with the organism. Ho hum!

1 2 3 4 5

6

7 8

(^101112)
9
13
14
thickly matted and oversized bird’s
nest. Caused by many different types of
Many genista flowers ‘explode’ when
alighted on by an insect, covering it
Female forms of butcher’s
broom have big red berries
KEYWORD TO WORD SEARCH 471 (AG 15 JUNE):
GRANDFATHER
AND THE WINNER IS: MRS SARAH E. TAYLOR,
STRATFORD-UPON-AVON, WARWICKSHIRE