Baetic gorse
Ulex baeticus
Family · Fabaceae · Irritating
The gorse of the southwestern Peninsula, flowering in midwinter and covering Algarve and Andalusian scrub in yellow when nothing else does. It pricks as much as the others.
Scrubland · Uplands · Dunes and sand
Also known asAndalusian gorse
How to tell it
Rigid, deeply grooved spines pointing in several directions. Yellow pea flowers with a dark-haired calyx, along the branches. It flowers from November to March, which already helps separate it.
What it is confused with
Small-flowered gorse
Ulex parviflorus
They are very similar and range helps more than the plant: Baetic gorse is southwestern, small-flowered gorse eastern and central. Both prick and both burn fast.
Open sheet →What it is for
Fuel and livestock bedding, like other gorses, and an important winter nectar plant in the south. It also counts as fire load near houses.