ULEX EUROPAEA


Common names:Gorse
Description: Prickly evergreen shrub, less than 10 feet tall. Many branched from the base, spreading. Twigs are hairy when young, becoming stiff and thorn like, intertwined.
Flowers: Generally clusters near twig tips. Flowers are pea like. Two lipped, yellow, 6 inches broad. Fruit is a pod, less than 1 inch broad, densley hairy and oblong.
Leaves: Simple, alternate, linear. When adult they become spines.
Reproduction: By seed and resprouting from stumps. Seed reproduction is far more harmful, as each plant produces an inordinant amount of seed, and may remain dormant in soil for up to 30 years.
Flowering:
Habitat and Ecology: Native to Central and Western Europe.