Hardy Ornamental Flowering Trees and Shrubs · Chapter 217Ulex
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ULEX EUROPAEUS.—Furze, Gorse, or Whin. This pretty native shrub needs no description, suffice it to say that it is one of the handsomest-flowering shrubs in cultivation. U. europaeus flore-pleno (Double-flowered Gorse) is even more beautiful than the species, the wealth of golden flowers almost hiding the plant from view. U. europaeus strictus (Irish Furze) is of more erect and slender growth, and less rigid than the common species.
U. NANUS.—-Dwarf Gorse, Cat Whin, and Tam Furze. This differs considerably from the common plant, not only in stature, but in the time of flowering. In this species the bracts at the calyx base are small compared with those of U. europaeus, while the smaller flowers are produced during summer, and when not a bloom is to be found on its supposed parent. It is of dense growth, the tallest stems rarely rising from the ground to a greater height than about 15 inches.
All the Furze family succeed admirably in the poorest of soil; indeed, a dry gravelly bank would seem to be their favourite haunt.