If spring had a colour, then it would have to be yellow – Lesser Celandine, Daffodils, Dandelions, even your duster for that spring cleaning is yellow. Gorse should also be added to the spring list; it maybe in flower throughout the year, (according to a traditional saying: ‘When Gorse is not in flower, kissing is not in season’), but it is spring when it really sets Wharfedale ablaze in golden yellow. Enjoy warm spring days when it has the smell of coconut but do return in the summer, lie back on the grass, and listen for the repeated ‘clicks’ as the black seed pods crack open releasing their seeds.
Gorse (or Furze), Ulex europaeus is a member of the pea family (Fabaceae) and has the typical pea flower structure with five petals: an upper “standard”, two side or lateral petals, the “wings” and two lower petals forming a boat-like structure, the “keel”.
The flower is remarkably well-adapted for insect pollination and deserves a design award. Unlike most of the pea family, visiting bees will find only pollen (the bees’ protein). Gorse has no nectaries and foraging bees will have to look elsewhere for nectar (the bees’ carbohydrate).
The two keels and two wing petals form a landing platform for insects. The keel petals are held together by notches and form a closed chamber forcibly holding down the ten stamens and single style and stigma. When a bee lands on the flower to collect pollen, its weight pushes the petals apart so that the stamens and stigma spring up and hit its belly. The stigma being longer than the stamens, hits the bee’s abdomen first and receives any pollen that it is already carrying. The stamens come up behind and deposit a fresh load of pollen for the next flower visited. The mechanism is known as “tripping”, and in Gorse, the flower will remain open once tripped so you can see (as well as any foraging bees) which flowers have already been visited. You could try “tripping” a flower yourself with your fingertip, to see how this amazing biological mechanism works.
Gorse is not just found in Wharfedale but is widespread throughout the UK, mostly occurring on well-drained, poor, acidic soils in open habitats, where its nitrogen-fixing ability is an advantage. It can also tolerate high concentrations of heavy metals and is often found growing on old lead mines up in the Dales.
It is not just bees that take advantage of Gorse. The sharp spines, and the absence of any leaves offer protection for small nesting birds and invertebrates.
If you like foraging, use the flowers to make a refreshing coconut-flavoured tea. Before flowering the buds can be picked and eaten like capers. It has been used in the past as a place to hang washing, also a chimney brush, and was cut as a fodder plant for cattle in the winter months.
Its most common use though was as a fuel for bakers in a furze oven. Gorse (or Furze) readily catches fire, burning with a ferocious intensity. Once the oven was hot, it was brushed out and the dough placed on the oven floor. It is possibly the origin of the expression “Upper Crust”, with the wealthy having the upper loaf or crust, and the poor the lower part of the loaf covered in ash and cinders.
As we have had a very wet winter, I encourage you to get out, every dry spring day we have. The countryside and nature are waking up at a fast rate and like children growing up, turn away and you miss all the fun.