Edible plant - novice Season - present all year. Flowers: all year - prolific in spring Common names Gorse, European gorse, common gorse, whin, honey-bottle, fingers-and-thumbs, French fuzz, furze
Scientific name meaning: Ulex is from the Latin Ulic, which is a plant resembling rosemary. Europaeus is also Latin meaning of or from Europe
Habitat  Gorse can be found on wasteground, commons, cliffs, heaths and roadsides. It is a native of Western Europe and has been introduced to New Zealand, the Americas, Africa and Australasia. It is considered an invasive pest in most of the areas it has been introduced to |
Overall structure  Reaching up to 2m tall, gorse is a plant with dense branches, prickly foliage and can flower all year round. It can appear as individual specimens but often grows as a thicket or bank. |
Leaves and spines  Young gorse shrubs have dark green trifoliate leaves but mature specimens have spines, reaching 2.5cm in length, rather than leaves. These are dense, furrowed/striate and dark green. |
Stem  The stem is dark green and deeply furrowed, however, the older bark at the centre of the shrub is pale grey/beige and dry looking. A sparse amount of black hairs can be seen on the green stems. |
Flowers  As a member of the pea family, it is no surprise that gorse has pea-like (papilionaceous) flowers. They are yellow and smell like fresh coconut. Gorse can flower all year but its most prolific season is spring. |
Fruit  The egg-shaped seeds form in hairy green pods that mature to black. The seeds themselves are 5-8mm and also age from green to black. |
Possible lookalikes Western gorse (Ulex gallii) and dwarf gorse (Ulex minor) are very similar, but both have the same edible qualities as gorse. Brooms (Cytisus spp) look very superficially similar and are related to gorse but they lack spines.
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Use as a food The flowers are used to make syrups, gorse lemonade, herbals infusions, jellies, desserts and capers. Only the flowers are edible and should only be eaten in moderation Use in herbal medicine and medicine Used in the Bach Flower Remedies "Despair" and "Hopelessness".
Was believed to have been used to treat scarlet fever
If you are suffering from any ailment or need medical advice, please see your General Practitioner.
Hazards The plant contains toxic alkaloids and phenolic compounds. Only the flowers are edible and should be eaten in moderation. The seeds and pods should never be eaten. It is very easy to injure oneself on the spines when harvesting flowers. Heavy duty garden gloves are advised.
Other uses The ashes of burnt gorse can be used as a fertiliser, or mixed with vegetable oil to make a soap. Gorse is a nitrogen fixer and its spines protect saplings, so it is used as a pioneer shrub for establishing new woodland. Orange/yellow dyes can be made from the flowers Importance to other species Provides a year-round food source for pollinators and warm roosting cover for birds
Always stay safe when foraging. You need to be 100% sure of your identification, 100% sure that your foraged item is edible, and 100% sure that you are not allergic to it (it is good practice to always try a small amount of any new food you are consuming). If in doubt, leave it out!
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