gorse (Ulex), Mount Gabriel in West Cork, Ireland
Gorse (Ulex) comprises a genus of about 20 species of evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae, native to western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia. Other common names for gorse include furse, whin and furze. Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green stems and very small leaves and adapts to dry growing conditions, but differs in its extreme spininess, with the leaves being modified into 1-4 cm long spines. All the species have yellow flowers, some with a very long flowering season. The most widely familiar species is the Common Gorse (Ulex europaeus), the only species native in most of western Europe, where it grows in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils. It is also the largest species, reaching 2-3 m height; this compares with typically m for Western gorse (U. gallii). This latter species is characteristic of highly exposed Atlantic coastal heathland and montane habitats.
Size: 5650px × 3752px
Photo credit: © Jack Carey / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., albicosta, areas, bird, britain, bush, capacity, coleophora, conditions, cork, county, cover, dartford, dense, double-striped, eaten, eire, emerald, establish, european, evergreen, exclusively, feeds, flower, flowers, forest, france, gorse, green, growing, helps, ideal, ireland, land, larva, magical, moth, natural, nature, nests, nitrogen-fixing, noted, plant, plants, poor, protecting, providing, pug, rain, reclamation, shrub, south, southern, stonechats, supporting, thorny, thrives, travel, tree, ulex., valuable, walk, warblers., west, widely, wildlife, wood, yellow
