U L EX europasus.
Common Furze, or Whin.
IA D E L P HIA JDecandria.
G en. Char. Cal. o f 2 leaves, almoft as long as the
pod. Stamina all connected.
S p e c . C h a r . Teeth of the calyx obfolete, converging.
_ Bradeae ovate, lax. Branches ere6t.
Syn. Ulex europseus. Linn. Sp. PL 1045. Sm.
FI. Brit. 756. Hudf. 312 . Forft. in Sym. Syn.
160. With. 626, var. 1. Hull. 159. Relh. 2,69.
Sibth. 220. Abbot. 154. FI. Dan. t. 608.
Genifta fpinofa vulgaris. Raii Syn. 475.
fandy heaths and commons produce this plant
in profufion j nor can any thing be conceived more brilliant
than Putney heath, for example, in the month of May, when
its honey-fc.ented bloffoms fpread in one fheet of “ vegetable
gold” over the whole country. Linnaeus is reported on his
arrival in England to have fallen on his knees in a rapture
of admiration at this fpedacle. He always lamented that he
could hardly preserve the Furze alive through a Swedifh winter,
even in a green-houfe. Indeed our own frofts frequently cut
it down to the root.
Stem flirubby, compofed of innumerable, denfe, green,
fpinous, ftriated branches. Leaves awl-fhaped, folitary, pungent,
roughifh, deciduous. Flowers axillary, on fliort downy
lialks, large, bright-yellow. Calyx of two, pale-green, downy,
fomewhat rufty, concave leaves, with a pair of ovate, fpreading^
downy bradeae at their bafe. The uppermoft calyx-leaf
terminates in 2, the lowermoft in 3, minute blunt teeth, fo
clofely adhering together as to be not at firft difcernible. The
ftamina are all united at their bafe, fo as to be in fad mona-
delphous. Pod oblong, downy, containing about 4 feeds.
The Ulex is much ufed for firing by the poor. It ought
not to be cut on the fame fpot more than once in 3 or 4 years,
when it attains its full fize.