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Scientific Name
Family
Common Names
Origin
Naturalised Distribution
Habitat
Habit
Distinguishing Features
Seedling
Stems and Leaves
Flowers and Fruit
Reproduction and Dispersal
Environmental Impact
Legislation
Management
Similar Species
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Click on images to enlarge

large infestation (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

habit (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

older woody stem (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

upper leaves reduced to spines (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

young growth covered in soft hairs (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flower buds with hairy sepals (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

close-up of pea-shaped flower (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

close-up of immature fruit (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

close-up of mature fruit covered in soft hairs (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

close-up of seeds (Photo: Steve Hurst at USDA PLANTS Database)

seedling (Photo: Greg Jordan)

a plant infested with gorse spider mite (Tetranychus lintearius), a successful biological control agent (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

Ulex europaeus

Scientific Name

Ulex europaeus L.

Family

Fabaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania and the Northern Territory)
Fabaceae: sub-family Faboideae (New South Wales)
Leguminosae (South Australia)
Papilionaceae (Western Australia)

Common Names

common gorse, European gorse, furze, golden gorse, gorse, Irish furze, whin

Origin

Native to central and western Europe (i.e. France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland) and the British Isles.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in southern and eastern Australia, particularly in the coastal and sub-coastal districts of south-eastern Australia. It is most abundant and widespread in Tasmania and Victoria, but is also realtively common in the south-eastern parts of New South Wales and South Australia. Also occasionally naturalised in south-western Western Australia, other parts of eastern New South Wales and south-eastern Queensland, and sparingly naturalised in the ACT.

Also naturalised overseas in northern and eastern Europe, northern and southern Africa, temperate and tropical Asia, New Zealand, western and north-eastern USA (i.e. California, Oregon, Washington, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts), Hawaii, Central America, South America and the Mascarenes.

Habitat

This species is mainly a weed of hillsides, waterways, roadsides, railways, pastures, grasslands, open woodlands, forests, disturbed sites, coastal environs, waste areas and forest margins in temperate regions. It is also occasionally found in the cooler, upland areas of sub-tropical regions.

Habit

An upright (i.e. erect or ascending), dense (i.e. much-branched), spiny shrub usually growing 60-250 cm tall, but occasionally reaching up to 4 m or more in height. Plants growing in harsh conditions may occasionally be very low-growing (i.e. procumbent), and such plants are capable of producing roots from their stems (i.e. adventitious roots).

Distinguishing Features

Seedling

The leaves are alternately arranged and compound, consisting of three small leaflets (i.e. they are trifoliate), when the plant is in the seedling stage.

Stems and Leaves

The branches are ribbed when young, hairy (i.e. pubescent), armed with large spines (up to 50 mm long) and possess many smaller branches (i.e. branchlets) that each end in a sharp spine. These younger stems are green in colour, but as they mature they turn brown, become woody, and develop a deeply-furrowed bark.

On mature plants the 'leaves' are usually reduced to narrow, rigid, dark-green coloured spines (5-35 mm long and about 1.5 mm wide). These 'spine-like leaves' (sometimes called phyllodes) are very numerous, stalkless (i.e. sessile), sometimes hairy (i.e. pubescent), and usually occur in regularly spaced clusters along the branches.

Flowers and Fruit

The numerous, sweet-smelling (i.e. fragrant), flowers are yellow and pea-shaped in appearance (15-20 mm across). These flowers are borne on short stalks (i.e. pedicels) 5-7 mm long, either in the leaf forks (i.e. axils) or in small clusters at the tips of the branches. They have bright yellow petals (15-25 mm long) and a yellowish coloured, membranous, hairy (i.e. pubescent) calyx (10-15 mm long) that is almost divided to the base (i.e. it is two-lipped) and has five teeth. Flowering may occur throughout the year, but is most abundant from late winter to early spring and during autumn in cooler climates and during spring and summer in warmer climates.

The fruit are small egg-shaped (i.e. ovoid) or oblong pods (10-25 mm long and 6-8 mm wide) that turn dark brown, grey or black in colour as they mature. They often have an inflated appearance, and are densely covered in long spreading hairs. Each pod contains 1-6 seeds and is partly hidden by the remains of the flowers (i.e. the calyx bracts). The seeds are smooth and shiny in appearance, olive green or brown in colour, and either kidney-shaped (i.e. reniform), rounded or somewhat triangular in shape (2-4 mm long and about 2.5 mm wide). They also have a small straw-coloured or whitish structure attached to them (i.e. an aril).

Reproduction and Dispersal

This plant generally reproduces via its relatively large seeds, which are spread by several means. Cultivation and movement of the root system occasionally also leads to regeneration from root fragments.

They can be explosively released small distances (i.e. up to 5 m) from their pods when they reach maturity. Animals such as birds and ants may collect the seeds and contribute to their spread. Seeds may also be dispersed in contaminated soil (e.g. during road-making, grading and other soil-moving activities), in mud, by water, and in dumped garden waste.

Environmental Impact

Gorse (Ulex europaeus) is regarded as a significant environmental weed in Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT and South Australia, and as an environmental weed in New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland. This species is also one of the twenty Weeds of National Significance (WoNS) and is actively managed by community groups in Tasmania, South Australia and Victoria.

It is also listed in the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD), and is regarded to be among the top 100 of the world’s worst invasive alien species.

Legislation

This species is declared under legislation in the following states and territories:

Management

For information on the management of this species see the following resources:

Similar Species

Gorse (Ulex europaeus) is very similar to broom (Cytisus scoparius subsp. scoparius), spiny broom (Calicotome spinosa), flax-leaf broom (Genista linifolia), Montpellier broom (Genista monspessulana) and Madeira broom (Genista stenopetala) at a distance, as these are all shrubs that produce masses of yellow pea-shaped flowers. However, these species can be distinguished by the following differences: