Gorse - Ulex europaeus

Family:Fabaceae - (Pea family)

Description

Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid and neutral soils and can grow in very acid soils.
It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought. The plant can tolerate maritime exposure.^[PFAF]
Ulex europaeus is a deciduous Shrub growing to 1.5 m (5ft) by 1.5 m (5ft) at a fast rate.
It is hardy to zone (UK) 6 and is not frost tender. It is in leaf 12-Jan It is in flower from Jan to December, and the seeds ripen from Jan to December. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Bees, flies, beetles.It can fix Nitrogen.
It is noted for attracting wildlife. ^[PFAF]

• Habitat: Dry, open, sandy or rocky clearings, old fields, cutbanks, and coastal bluffs in the lowland zone. ^{[IFBC-E-flora]} Moors, commons and heaths, preferring dry soils[4, 11]. ^[PFAF]
• Range: locally frequent in SW BC, rare on the Queen Charlotte Islands; introduced from Europe. ^[1] Western Europe, including Britain, from Scandanavia to Spain.^[PFAF]
• Status: Exotic. ^[E-flora]

Food Use

• Shoot Tips A tea is made from the shoot tips[177,183]. ^[PFAF]
• Flower Buds Pickled in vinegar and then used like capers in salads[183]. ^[PFAF]

Other Uses

• Pesticide: The plant has an old reputation as a pesticide, the soaked seed being used against fleas [4]. ^[PFAF]
• Wood Burns very well, it was much used in the past for kindling, heating bakers ovens etc[11, 66]. ^[PFAF][ENDG]
  • Industrial Use: Gorse was also important in the manufacture of bricks. In the seventeenth century, bricks were first dried with wood but the actual burning was carried out using 'Bush, Furz, Heath, Brake or Fern Faggots'.^[ENDG]
  • Potassium: The ashes from the burnt wood are rich in potassium and can be used in making soap[4, 115]. This soap can be made by mixing the ashes with a vegetable oil, or mixing them with clay and forming them into balls[4]. ^[PFAF][ENDG]
  • Fertilizer: The ashes are also an excellent fertilizer[4, 115]. ^[PFAF]
• Flowers
  • Dye: A beautiful yellow dye is obtained from the flowers[4]. It is orange according to another report[168]. ^[PFAF] Gorse provides a yellow dye, being the source of the whin-bark dyes used for tartans, and the stouter stems of the plant are even now gathered by gypsies and made into 'handsome, knobbly, walking sticks' (Edlin, 1973).^[ENDG]

Medicinal Use

The recorded uses of gorse in folk medicine all come from those parts of the west of the British Isles where Ulex gallii is the only one certainly native and where U. europaeus, the common one over much of England, bears a name in Gaelic or Welsh indicative of comparatively recent introduction, for hedging and forage. Apart from a veterinary use in the Isle of Man, the records come from Ireland without exception. The principal application there has been for coughs, colds, sore throats and hoarseness (Down,[56] Londonderry,[57] Donegal,[58] Wicklow,[59] Waterford[60]), including consumption (Limerick[61]). In Londonderry,[62] Wicklow[63] and Kilkenny[64] it has also featured as a tonic, especially for cleansing or ‘increasing’ the blood, while in parts of Ulster[65] and in Wicklow[66] and Wexford[67] it has been favoured for heartburn or hiccups. In Cavan[68] and Limerick[69] decoctions of the flowers or ‘tops’ have been given for jaundice and in Cavan[70] for heart trouble, while in parts of Ulster[71] it has been applied to ringworm and dermatitis and in Meath (with daisy roots) for a whitlow[72] or a swelling.[73] Widely employed for ridding livestock of worms, that use has also been extended to children in Antrim[74] and Sligo.[75]^[MPFT]

• Flowers Gorse has never played much of a role in herbal medicine, though its flowers have been used in the treatment of jaundice and as a treatment for scarlet fever in children[4]. ^[PFAF]
  • Bach Remedy: Used in Bach flower remedies - the keywords for prescribing it are 'Hopelessness' and 'Despair'[209]. ^[PFAF]
    • Preparation: To prepare this Bach Flower Remedy, you need to select a place where gorse (U. europaeus) grows in abundance and select from the bushes all through the clusters. The flowers of gorse are collected along with short stalks and allowed to float on water in a bowl. According to Dr Edward Bach, the flowers of gorse ought to be picked just prior to the shrubs attaining their absolute glory, somewhat before it emits scent, most likely during the period in mid April.^[Herbs2000]
    • Uses: A Bach Flower Remedy, Gorse is especially used to cure a profound feeling of despondency that may have an effect on the vitality of an individual.^[Herbs2000]
• Seeds Said to be astringent and has been used in the treatment of diarrhoea and stones[4]. ^[PFAF]

Lore

• Dye: A yellow dye can be got from the bark (Jenkins. 1966). The flowers were widely used for colouring Easter eggs yellow (A R Wright, Gill. 1963) ^{[DPL Watts]}
• Fuel: the best known and most widespread use of the plant was as fuel, especially for firing baking ovens (Dacombe, Carew). It was used in Ireland, too, for domestic fuel, and it was actually brought into the city for sale there at one time; indeed, in parts of County Carlow, faggoting (a faggot being furze tied in bundles by briar bands) was a regular trade (Lucas). It was actually cultivated, at least into the 19th century, for fuel and fodder.... There are examples, too, of more industrial use of gorse as a fuel, for brick making, for instance, or for lime burning.^{[DPL Watts]}
• Fodder: In the Hebrides, it is said that the result of cows eating the young shoots is a rich yellow colour in the butter (Murdoch McNeill).... It used to be equally important as feed for horses and cows, the former in particular, after the prickles were dealt with, of course.... But it is the young shoots that are particularly succulent for stock, after the old foliage is burned off, and the cows put into the gorse land when the consequent new shoots appear. This was particularly the case in Ireland (Ulster farmers said that an animal fed on whins would never be content with grass again (St Clair)), but it was common Welsh practice as well.... On some farms, a field of gorse was regarded as being as valuable as a field of hay. ^{[DPL Watts]}
• Hedge: Its other uses include that of stopping a gap in a fence or hedge just by putting a bush in the opening, or by using it as a dead hedge to protect the base of a haystack from damp (Harris). In the south of Ireland it was employed as a quick hedge too. At the beginning of the 19th century fences there were either stone walls topped with earth, and furze growing on it, or banks of earth only, similarly planted (Lucas).^{[DPL Watts]}
• Building Material: It was used in cottage building sometimes – Flora Thompson described the way furze and daub was employed for the walls. ^{[DPL Watts]}
• Animal Bedding: A further use was for bedding for animals. A layer was well firmed by trampling, and straw put on top of that (Lucas). ^{[DPL Watts]}
• Umbrella Handle: The commoners of Ashdown Forest, in Sussex, had the right to cut sticks out of gorse bushes. They would bundle them up and sell them to umbrella makers to make handles (Sargent).^{[DPL Watts]}
• Insecticide: There is a very ancient regard for gorse, particularly the seed, as a means of getting rid of fleas. An Anglo-Saxon version of Dioscorides is translated (by Cockayne): “Against fleas, take this wort with its seed, sprinkle it into the house; it killeth the fleas”. Something similar was being advised in the 15th century: “For fleas and lice to slay them. Take gorse and seethe it in water, and sprinkle that water about the house, and they will die” (Dawson). ^{[DPL Watts]}
• Veterinary Use: For horses the tops were cut and pounded on a block, and this would be given to the horse, often with a pint of linseed oil (Logan).^{[DPL Watts]}

In more recent times, it has been used in medicine for scarlet fever, and also jaundice, the latter surely being the result of the doctrine of signatures (yellow flowers to cure the yellow disease). The flower infusion is an old Wiltshire remedy for dropsy (Wiltshire). The green tops featured in many a Highlands cough medicine (Grant), as it was in Ireland too (Maloney), whooping cough as well (St Clair). It was also used there for asthma, by steeping it overnight and drinking the water, and furze used to be the agent in an Irish worm cure, both for children and horses. In the first case, it was enough to boil a handful of the flowers in milk, and give that to the child to drink (Vickery. 1995). ^{[DPL Watts]}

(Ulex europaeus)
Folk Names: Broom, Frey, Furze, Fyrs, Gorst, ''Goss, Prickly Broom, Ruffet, Whin
Gender: Masculine
Planet: Mars
Element: Fire
Deities: Jupiter, Thor
Powers: Protection, Money
Magical Uses: Gorse is a good protectant against evil. In Wales hedges of the prickly gorse are used to protect the home against fairies, who cannot penetrate the hedge. Gorse is also used in money spells; it attracts gold.^{[EMH Cunningham]}

Phytochemicals

Nutritional Information

Cultivation

An easily grown plant, it requires a poor soil and a sunny position to be at its best[11]. It does well on dry sunny banks or in poor gravelly soils[11]. It is intolerant of shade, nor does it do well on rich soils[11, 182]. Prefers a neutral to slightly acid soil[200], disliking alkaline soils[17]. Plants are very intolerant of root disturbance[11]. Very tolerant of maritime exposure and, once established, drought[75, 186, 200]. Although native to Britain and said to be hardy to about -20°c[184], gorse often suffers badly in severe winters[4, 17], but the plants usually recover[186]. They often accumulate dry dead spines at their centre, this can be a fire risk in dry summers[186, 200]. The plants often resprout from the base after a fire[200] and, even if killed, numerous seedlings will soon spring up to replace the dead plants[186]. Hybridizes freely with other members of this genus[200]. The flowers are strongly scented of coconut[K]. Another report says that the flowers have a smell of vanilla with undertones of orange or pineapple[245]. It is one of the most refreshing of all flower scents[245]. A food plant for the caterpillars of several lepidoptera species[30]. Plants often form dense thickets and these are ideal nesting areas for many species of birds[186]. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus[200]. This species has a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria, these bacteria form nodules on the roots and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Some of this nitrogen is utilized by the growing plant but some can also be used by other plants growing nearby[200].^[PFAF]

• Infestations of this species can result in impoverished soil (Global Invasive Species Database 2010).[E-flora] Gorse is difficult to control once established. Chemical methods are not very effective or feasible. [Prance CHP]
• Fence: Gorse makes such an excellent fence.(Oxford University Press, 1971). ^[ENDG]
• Fodder: The use of Gorse as fodder seems to have been widespread and in some areas special 'whin-mills' were used to bruise the plant before feeding it to livestock. The importance of Gorse as fodder is, of course, related to the fact that, being evergreen, it is available in winter when other supplies of fodder are short.^[ENDG]
• Biomass: Gorse as biomass crop has strong appeal due to its wide adaptation, growth on sloping marginal land, coppicing ability and need for little or no fertiliser. It is also a legume that fi xes nitrogen, sometimes enough to create a nitrogen run-off problem.[Lichtfouse SAR 11]
• Fire Adapted: Gorse is highly flammable, and the town of Bandon, OR, burned down in a 1936 wildfire that spread rapidly through the gorse-infested area. The plant regenerates rapidly after fire, by resprouting and from the soil seed bank.[Prance CHP]

Propagation

Seed - pre-soak 24 hours in hot water and sow in individual pots in a greenhouse in late winter to early spring. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts. Plants are very intolerant of root disturbance and so should be planted into their permanent positions as soon as possible, though not until after the last expected frosts[78]. Cuttings of half-ripe wood, 7cm with a heel, July/August in a frame. Pot up in spring as soon as rooting commences and plant out into their permanent positions as soon as possible[78].^[PFAF]

ULEX GORSE, FURZE

Shrub, heavily armed, not gland-dotted. Stem: much-branched from base, stiffly spreading, striate; twigs becoming thorns. Leaf: simple, alternate; juvenile (on seedlings, young shoots near ground) linear; adult awl-like, stiff, becoming spines. Inflorescence: generally cluster, axillary near twig tips, few-flowered. Flower: calyx 2-lipped, membranous, yellow, persistent; petals ± equal, yellow, persistent. Fruit: ± exserted from calyx, ovate or oblong, explosively dehiscent. Seed: 1–3, with small basal outgrowth.
± 20 species: western Europe, northern Africa. (Latin: ancient name) ^[Jepson]

Uses of Other Ulex Sp.

Phytochemicals
In a few taxa that cluster within QA-accumulating [QA=Quinolizidine alkaloids]genera, QAs are hardly detectable or levels are very low, such as in Ulex, Calicotome or Spartocytisus. These taxa have in common extensive spines that have apparently supplanted chemical defence. In such cases, the presence or absence of QAs is clearly a trait reflecting different ecological strategies rather than taxonomic relationships.^{[Wink BBPSM]}

References

• [E-flora] Ulex europaeus, http://linnet.geog.ubc.ca/Atlas/Atlas.aspx?sciname=Ulex%20europaeus [Accessed: April 23, 2014]
  
• [DukePhyt] Ulex europaeus, Dr. Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases. [Online Database] 07 May 2014.
• [CRC] CRC Handbook of Medicinal Herbs and/or CRC Handbook of Proximate Analyses
• [HHB] List, P.H. and Horhammer, L., Hager's Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, Vols. 2-6, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1969-1979.
• [Jepson]2013. Ulex, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Martin F. Wojciechowski & Elizabeth McClintock, http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/get_IJM.pl?tid=10385, accessed on Feb 21 2015
• [WOI] ANON. 1948-1976. The Wealth of India raw materials. Publications and Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi. 11 volumes.
  
• [ENDG]Ethnobotany and Native Distribution of Gorse (Ulex europaeus L.) in Britain, by Rymer, Leslie, Environmental Conservation, 09/1979, Volume 6, Issue 3
  
• [Herbs2000] Ulex europaeus Accessed May 18, 2014
  
• [PFAF] Ulex europaeus Plants for a future, Accessed April 23, 2014
• Fisher P, Anson A, Petrini O (1986) Fungal endophytes in Ulex europaeus and Ulex gallii. Trans Brit Mycol Soc 86:153–193