A Whin-Whin situation..

Whin/Gorse/Furze Ulex europaeus

The first thing to say is that all the above names refer to the most common species of Ulex in the British Isles. I am going to refer to it as Gorse, since that is what I call it, but as they say “a rose is a rose by any other name”. The yellow flowers are truly a spectacle of the British Landscape. They are one of the native plants that can be picked out from miles away and I certainly feel one of the defining plants of our countryside. Such a commonplace shrub inevitably becomes overlooked and its beauty not necessarily appreciated by all.

Being a coloniser of dunes, pastures and hillsides, Gorse has always been at the battlefront between domesticity and wildness. It expands into agricultural and “waste lands” and moves them towards woodland. This is its ecosystem role. Being a leguminous plant, it has the ability to fix nitrogen and thus “improve” the soil for the more demanding trees that come in its wake. The impenetrability of its thorns mean that grazing animals of both wild and domestic kind can’t get into its depths and thus it forms natural tree guards for pioneer trees. Rowan and Aspen are especially adept at growing up through the gorse stands. The beauty of it all from the ecological point of view is that Gorse is shade intolerant and thus dies back once full canopy cover is reached in the woodland (as is the case with bracken). So in the long run, it is one of these perplexing, self-defeating plants that helps to destroy its own habitat, but there are always new pastures to start afresh.

So generally Gorse is seen as a bit of nuisance, since it can take away grasslands if not cut back. In the past, it was cut and fed to livestock, and burnt more frequently. Since it regenerates when cut back, I would imagine that it was either heavily grazed or grubbed out to keep it at bay. It is one of the main consequences of having less people working manually on the land, that gorse has spread, where before there were lots of hands to manage it. From a nature conservation point of view, Gorse is sometimes viewed in the same light, since species rich grasslands can be lost if scrub takes over. However, for the most part, the shrub seems to be largely unpraised by ecologists, which seems rather strange. Very little attention seems to be have been paid to the species richness of Gorse thickets. For one, they offer variety and structure in “flat” habitats, nesting sites and song perches. Secondly, the flowers are hugely abundant and where you get flowers you get insects and thus a healthy food chain.

Home sick Britons have taken the plant abroad and it has become a major pest species in California, Australia and New Zealand. Although it has negative actions, because it becomes shades out, once native woodland regenerates in these areas it ceases to be a problem. In Australia, pea-family plants are used in forestry as a nurse crop for the trees, something that could be of benefit here. This has happened naturally to a massive extent in a former Larch plantation in Glen Rosa on Arran. The clear-fell site is a mass of Gorse which will improve the soil for the main crop! It is interesting that in the UK when we plant native woodlands, we jump in with the big boys, rather than the natural pioneers, in the form of scrub, that improve the soil.

Besides its beauty, the smell of Gorse on a hot day is often intense coconut. The flowers can be eaten, and are a nice addition to salads to brighten them up. The seeds are poisonous, but the bursting of the pods in the warmth is another joy as are their silky linings. In the past, the wood was gathered for faggots, especially after it had been burned in order to control its spread. Aside from the conventional names, It appears also to be known as “Dartmoor Custard” and in rhyming slang “Inspector”!