annual 2010/2011 of the croatian academy of engineering - HATZ

Annual 2010/2011 of the Croatian Academy of Engineering 27
Figure 6 Elementary ber of Spanish Broom, recorded with scanning electron microscope (SEM
FE/Mira Tescan);
THE APPLICATION OF SPANISH BROOM IN HISTORY
Spanish Broom is a plant that was known even to the ancient Romans. In the past, Greeks,
Romans and Carthaginians used it as raw material for the manufacture of ropes, nets, bags,
sails. They also used it for covering roofs and even clothing. The ower of the Spanish
Broom is important for the coastal apiculture. Aristotle and Pliny praised the honey produced
from Spanish Broom. In general, out of all ancient writers about Spanish Broom, it
was Pliny Senior who wrote the most. He called it genista and he writes: Ginestra quoque
vinculi,… ores apibus gratissimi (Spanish Broom is used for tying and making crumples,…
and bees often land on its owers).
However, in several places he mentions a plant called Spartum (Latin form of the Dioskorides’
description of the plant sparton). After a detailed analysis of the application and
processing, it is regarded the same plant today, or rather (Spartium Junceum L.). Already in
the period of the ancient Rome, Spanish Broom elds (genestium – or ager in later Latin)
were cultivated as any other eld, and the plant or sprouts were sown in ploughed up furrows,
as the Roman agronomist Columella describes. According to Vergil, hedges of Spanish
Broom were planted in addition to willow, hazel, elder and other plants. Pliny wrote
that the sowing and planting of Spanish Broom was crucial for peasants. Amongst other
things, its branches provide excellent material for tying vine and young trees.
The most intensive production of Spanish Broom as raw material for obtaining textile fabric
was in Italy during the 1930’s, when annual production of Spanish Broom, due to economic
sanctions in Italy (war in Abyssinia) and the proclamation policy of self-sufciency,
reached 700,000 tones. It was planted on 300,000 hectares and there were 61 processing
factories [2].