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Ulex
Also called Gorse / Whin, Gorses, Furzes
Ulex is a genus of about twenty thorny evergreen shrubs in the pea family, commonly known as gorse. Common gorse (Ulex europaeus) is the one most often grown, valued for hardiness and wildlife cover; grow it in full sun in poor, well-drained soil.
Ulex (commonly known as gorse, furze, or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about twenty species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are native to parts of western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.
Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, it has green stems and very small leaves, and is adapted to dry growing conditions. However, it differs from the brooms in its extreme thorniness, the shoots being modified into branched thorns 1–4 centimetres (0.4–1.6 inches) long, which almost wholly replace the leaves as the plant's functioning photosynthetic organs. The leaves of young plants are trifoliate, but in mature plants, they are reduced to scales or small spines.
Gorse may grow as a fire-climax plant, well adapted to encourage and withstand fires, being highly flammable and having seed pods that are, to a large extent, opened by fire: thus allowing rapid regeneration after fire. The burnt stumps will readily sprout new growth from the roots. Where fire is excluded, gorse soon tends to be shaded out by taller-growing trees, unless other factors, such as exposure, also apply. Typical fire recurrence periods in gorse-stands are 5–20 years.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Ulex by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
