The use of plant-based brooms in the province of Madrid (Spain) TARDÍO, Javier 1 , Laura ACEITUNO 1 , and Ramón MORALES 2 1 IMIDRA. Finca El Encín, Apdo. 127, E-28800 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain javier.tardio@madrid.org 2 Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid, Plaza de Murillo 2, E-28014 Madrid, Spain Key words: ethnobotany, brooms, Madrid, Spain During the last six years an ethnobotanical re- search has been carried out in the province of Madrid, in central Spain. This province has got a high diversity of environmental conditions, from granitic mountain areas to limestone plains, which is reflected in the variety of vegetation and its traditional uses. However, the migration from the villages to the city of Madrid, and the agriculture and livestock farming crisis, threatens the conser- vation of the traditional farmer’s culture. Material and methods Fieldwork was carried out in 55 villages within the province of Madrid. Seventy people were in- terviewed (age range 31-82 years, mean 70), most of them retired farmers. Through semi-structured interviews, data on the vernacular name and pop- ular use of plants were registered, taking into account whether the use was in force or not. Par- ticipant observation was used to record the proc- ess of selecting, gathering and making the broom. Results and discussion As it is shown in Table 1, twenty-two plant spe- cies belonging to 10 families were found to be used as brooms. In most cases, a broom consists of a bunch of leafy stems tied together and, occasionally, a broomstick may be inserted in between. The proc- ess of making the brooms includes specific kowl- edge about collecting and preparing the plants. The traditional knowledge about gathering in- volves the selection of the plants that are suitable for making a broom, knowing for which uses is better one plant than another, and choosing when should the plant be collected to get an optimum resistance and flexibility. Afterwards, the collected plant is prepared to make the broom: it has to be dried, cleaned from flowers or seeds, and kept un- der water a few hours before tying them up. Like- wise the way of tying the broom is important to make it resistant and durable. Brooms were classified as soft or hard, de- pending on the use and the type of plant they are made of. Other ethnobotanical studies found also this local classification in the neighbouring Span- ish region of Castilla-La Mancha (Fajardo et al. 2000; Verde et al. 1998; Verde et al. 2001). Hard brooms were used to sweep the streets, threshing floor, farmyard, stable, barn, and courtyard of the house. The plants used for these brooms are coarse and resistant. Nevertheless, soft brooms were used to clean several places inside the house: wood fire oven and the burner, the kitchen, the bread trough, and small pieces of furniture. Other uses were to spread pesticides or to brush the body. Plants used for these brooms have thin and straight stems, and are scarcely branched. The most mentioned plants to be used as brooms in were Chondrilla juncea, Mantisalca salmantica, and Odontitella virgata. The first two species are widely spread in the province of Mad- rid, but the later is not so common and grows mainly in the northern half of the region. For that reason the specific sites where it grows were well- known by the informants, who used to go there every year only to collect this species. Odontitella virgata has been also mentioned for making brooms in the surrounding of National Park of Cabañeros (Verde et al. 2001). All the species registered are wild plants, ex- cept for Panicum miliaceum, which is cultivated in homegardens only for making brooms, as in other places throughout Spain (Mesa 1996; Moll 2005). Proceedings of the IV th International Congress of Ethnobotany (ICEB 2005), 2006, 347-349