Gorse, Ulex europaeus

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“When gorse is out of blossom, kissing’s out of fashion” – a well-known folk saying.

Gorse

Gorse on Kelling heath, Norfolk

I bring good news: kissing is very much in fashion at the moment, judging by the gorse in flower on the heaths of North Norfolk.

A mass of bright yellow gorse flowers, wafting their delicious coconut scent across the heathland, is one of the treats of spring. According to Richard Mabey in ‘Flora Britannica’ (Sinclair-Stevenson 1996), the Swedish naturalist Linnaeus reputedly fell to his knees and thanked God when he first saw Gorse on an English common.

Common Gorse, Ulex europaeus, is common in disturbed areas, such as heaths, grasslands and forest margins. It is a shrubby member of the Pea family, the Fabaceae (formerly Leguminosae) which grows to about two metres tall and is covered in dense spines (unlike its relative Common Broom, Cytisus scoparius, which is found in similar places). It generally flowers between January and June.

Gorse is excellent for wildlife and provides dense cover for nesting birds such as Yellowhammers, Linnets, Stonechats and Dartford Warblers, as well as a nectar source for insects early in the year when little else is in flower. One of Gorse’s alternative names is ‘furze’ and this has led to the Dartford Warbler’s other name of ‘furze wren’.

Gorse has also been very useful for humans, providing fuel, cattle and horse food (in spite of the spines) and brooms. Gorse ashes make a good fertiliser. The flowers have been used to dye Easter eggs. The Plants For A Future website says that the buds can be pickled in vinegar and then used like capers in salads, and the shoot tips can be used to make a tea. The flowers are used in Bach flower remedies to treat ‘Hopelessness’ and ‘Despair’. (I find just looking at the flowers cures me of this.) Many of our surviving heathlands, such as at East Ruston and Buxton Heath in Norfolk  survive because they were set aside as ‘Poor Allotments’ at the time of enclosure.

Bacteria in the roots fix nitrogen and enable the plant to grow in places with low soil fertility. Gorse is a great colonist and after it has improved the soil trees will be able to colonise the heathland and will eventually shade out the Gorse. Cutting back gorse from time to time will reinvigorate it and make it a better wildlife habitat.

Gorse has been introduced to many parts of the world. Where it has been introduced, it can be very invasive and it is a serious pest in Australia. 

Common Gorse, Ulex europaeus, has two close relatives in Britain, both of which flower later in the summer (usually July – November). Western Gorse, Ulex gallii, is frequent in the western half of Britain and occurs along the East Anglian coast. (This article by Gill Smith gives a useful summary of the differences between Westen and Common Gorse.)  Dwarf Gorse Ulex minor, is a low growing, sprawling sub-shrub, covered in short spines. It is found on heaths in central southern and eastern Britain. The extended flowering time of our three native species of gorse is probably the reason why kissing never goes completely out of fashion.

Common Gorse

Common Gorse

Wild Tulip, Tulipa sylvestris

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The first tulips I grew as a child were red Parrot Tulips, which had enormous, brightly coloured flowers with twisted, wavy petals. A kind description of these showy tulips is ‘extremely flamboyant‘, though to the less charitable they could be considered ‘a bit vulgar‘.

I still grow tulips but my favourite at the moment  *, which I only discovered this spring, is the Wild Tulip or Woodland Tulip, Tulipa sylvestris. This grows from six to 15 inches (15 – 38 millimetres) tall and has bold, clear yellow flowers.

* I reserve the right to find another favourite tulip at some time in the future.

It is lovely and elegant in bud:

Wild Tulip

Tulipa sylvestris – in bud

Then it explodes into colour:

Wild Tulip

Tulipa sylvestris – in full flower

Tulipa sylvestris can be found growing wild in various locations in the lowlands of Britain, where its habitats include open woodlands, orchards, hedgerows, riversides, chalk pits, grassy banks and waste ground. I have never seen it growing in the wild, but have a single plant in the raised bed in our back garden, which I bought from Natural Surroundings in North Norfolk earlier this year. Tulipa sylvestris enjoys growing in a sunny spot and can be naturalised in grass. It is a perennial and has a bulb beneath the ground, to which it will die back after flowering. It is very drought tolerant once established.

Tulipa sylvestris is thought to be originally from Mediterranean Europe but it can now be found in parts of Asia and North Africa as well as Europe. It is hardy in our climate and it was being cultivated in Britain by 1596 and was recorded from the wild by 1790. It was widely naturalised by the late 18th and 19th centuries but has since declined, though populations can persist even if the plants don’t flower [reference].

The Plants For A Future website warns that the bulb and the flowers have been known to cause dermatitis in sensitive people – florists in particular can develop a rash known as “tulip fingers” or “tulip finger disease“. 

Tulips are edible – with caution. Plants For A Future says up to five Tulipa sylvestris bulbs a day can be eaten without ill-effect. I have not tried eating tulips, though they have been eaten in times of famine, in particular in The Netherlands in 1944 – 1945. The excellent Eat The Weeds website provides more details of tulips’ edibility. In particular, the skin and the centre of the bulbs should be avoided and most types should be cooked. The petals are edible, though the flavour varies and the ends of the petals can be bitter.

The name ‘tulip’ comes from tulband, Turkish for a Persian turban, which the flowers were thought to resemble. Alternative names that never caught on included ‘lillynarcissus’ and ‘Dalmatian cap’.

Box, Buxus sempervirens

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“A drab, malodorous and not especially useful shrub” – Richard Mabey, ‘Flora Britannica‘.

Box, Buxus sempervirens, is a slow-growing evergreen shrub or small tree. It is often used as an edging for garden beds and borders, when it is clipped to no more than a foot (30cm) high. But it is capable of growing into a tree and can reach at least 30 feet (nine metres) tall, with a trunk up to 20 centimetres (7.9 in) in diameter. Its evergreen habit makes it a popular choice in churchyards and cemeteries and Earlham Cemetery in Norwich has several specimens, the largest next to the avenue of Lime Trees leading into the Cemetery from the Dereham Road gate.

Box, Buxus sempervirens

Box, Buxus sempervirens, in Earlham Cemetery, Norwich.

Box is a British native, a member of the family Buxaceae, which also contains Sarcococca (Sweet Box) and Pachysandra (Japanese Spurge), both of which are useful garden evergreens.

In the wild, Box grows on limestone and chalk in the south of England, often on steep slopes, and is often found associated with beech. It is now found in many parts of the British mainland, as well as in parts of Ireland, as it has been widely planted. British places named after Box include the famous Box Hill on the North Downs in Surrey, which is our largest area of native Box woodland. Other places include Bixley near Norwich (‘Box woods’), Bexhill and Bexley in Kent, Bix in Oxfordshire and Bexington (‘settlement amongst Box’) in Dorset. However, Boxtead Green in Essex is probably from Boc-hamstede (‘homestead amongst beeches’) and Boxworth in Cambridgeshire may be from Bucc’s worth (‘Bucc’s enclosure’). Further afield, Box occurs in open dry montane scrub, particularly in the Mediterranean region and has been naturalised in parts of North America.

Box wood is yellow, very hard and fine grained. It is the wood of choice for wood engraving. (One of Thomas Bewick’s wood engraving blocks was still sound after 900,000 printings.) It is ideal for small wood turning products, such as chessmen and small pulley blocks, clarinets, tool handles and marquetry. As the name implies, it also makes excellent small boxes.

Box foliage has a distinctive smell, not unlike a tom cat’s urine and my mother-in-law cut down a Box bush near her front door because she didn’t like the smell, especially on a hot sunny day. I don’t mind it – it reminds me of a Box that grew in the garden we had in Scotland when I was a child.

Box flowers in early spring. The flowers are inconspicuous and greenish-yellow, with no petals, and are insect pollinated. They are popular with Hoverflies, and in Earlham Cemetery, Norfolk Hoverfly Recorder Stuart Paston has recorded at least seven species visiting the flowers.

Box

Topiary Box ‘Bee’, Helmingham Hall, Suffolk

The Box Bug, Gonocerus acuteangulatus, is a charismatic insect that used to be very rare and was only found on Box on Box Hill. The good news is that this bug is expanding its range and now occurs widely in the south-east of England and beyond, feeding on other species such as Hawthorn, Bramble, Rose, Yew and Plum, as well as Box. Less welcome for gardeners is the Box Sucker or Boxwood Psyllid, Psylla buxi, which sucks the sap and distorts the shoots. However, regular clipping will remove the affected shoots.

More serious for gardeners is Box Blight, a fungal disease of box leaves and stems caused by two fungi, Cylindrocladium buxicola and Pseudonectria buxi. Cylindrocladium buxicola can affect Sarcocooca and Pachysandra as well as Box. Both fungi make Box leaves go brown and fall, leading to bare patches. In severe outbreaks, it may be necessary to dig out the infected plants and destroy them. There is plenty of advice on the internet: Monty Don describes his troubles with Box Blight and Bunny Guinness describes how to control it. Sensible measures not involving fungicides include not watering the plants from above and clipping box hedges less severely and frequently.

In the garden, Box is also affected by other troubles, such as Box Rust, Box Red Spider Mite and Mussel Scale.

If you want to have a green edge for your borders and beds but want to avoid Box, Ilex crenata is worth considering. At Highgrove Gardens they use Hedge Germander, Teucrium lucidrys, as a hedge. The effect is different but there is the added benefit of more pleasantly scented foliage and flowers that are attractive to humans, bees and butterflies alike.

Further reading:

J. Edward Milner, “The Tree Book”, Collins & Brown, London, 1992
Richard Mabey, “Flora Britannica”, Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1996.