Gorse
Ulex europaeus
Family · Fabaceae · Irritating
Irritant
The yellow, spiny shrub that closes shortcuts across the north and centre. It cuts anyone who pushes through and burns fast, but it holds the soil and feeds bees in midwinter.
Where it grows
Scrubland · Uplands · Pine woods
Also known ascommon gorse, furze
In flower
How to tell it
Stiff green spines instead of leaves, and yellow pea flowers that smell sweet, of coconut, in the sun. You smell it before you see it.
What it is confused with
Broom
Cytisus striatus
Both yellow and from the same scrub. Broom has no spines at all and is made of green flexible rods; gorse always pricks.
Open sheet →What it is for
It was livestock bedding and oven fuel across the northern half of the country. Today it counts mostly as fire load: dry gorse is the worst neighbour a house can have.