Gorse
Ulex europaeus
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'When gorse is out of blossom, kissing's out of fashion' — because it is never entirely out of flower.
A dense, viciously spiny evergreen shrub whose leaves are reduced to hard green spines, covered in coconut-scented golden-yellow pea flowers. Gorse — whin, locally — is abundant on heath, rough grazing, railway banks and the Solway coast, and can be found carrying at least some flower in any month of the year, with a mass flowering in spring.
Behaviour
Ripe seed pods split explosively on hot days with an audible crack, flinging seed several metres. Gorse fixes nitrogen through root nodules and thrives on poor acid soils. The thickets are superb cover: stonechats, linnets and whitethroats nest in them, and the spring flowering is a major nectar source. Old stands burn fiercely and regenerate quickly afterwards.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Peas (Fabaceae)
- Height
- Up to 2.5 m
- Status
- Native; abundant on heath and rough ground
Photo by Kieran Roy Powell, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons