6 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
crop of young shoots, which are readily eaten by cattle. In some parts of England 
it is usual to put the Furze bushes into a mill to crush the thorns, and then to feed 
horses and cows with the branches. When finely cut or crushed, sheep will readily eat 
it. Asa picturesque hedge, the Furze is very appropriate, and is extremely beautiful 
when in blossom. In plantations it is frequently sown as a shelter to very young trees on 
their first planting, also as a cover for game. In calm and sunny weather the crackling 
of Furze bushes caused by the explosion of their elastic pods is distinctly audible. 
“The path with laughing Furze o’errun, 
When bursting seed-bells crackle in the sun.” 
English poets have not failed to sing the praises of this common plant, whose 
scent, resembling somewhat that of the heliotrope, perfumes the air for a distance, and 
whose golden blossoms, often contrasting with the purple blossoms of the heath growing 
near it, must attract the admiration of every wayfarer. Cowper says :— 
“The common, overgrown with fern, and rough 
With prickly gorse, that, shapeless and deformed, 
And dangerous to the touch, has yet its bloom, 
And decks itself with ornaments of gold, 
Yields no unpleasing ramble,” 
SPECIES IL—ULEX NANUS. Forst. 
Puates CCCXXIV. CCCXXYV. 
Stem decumbent. Branches spreading or drooping, shaggy. 
Primary spines recurved-spreading, faintly furrowed or striate. 
Bracts roundish-ovate, ;,th as long as the calyx, and in width 
not exceeding the breadth of the pedicel. Calyx pubescent. 
Wings about equal to the keel, or very slightly exceeding it. Pod 
about as long as or shorter than the calyx, matured in the season 
succeeding that in which its flower was produced. 
Sus-Specres I.—Ulex Gallii. Planch. 
Prate CCCXXIV. 
Planch, Ann. Bot. ser. iii. Vol. XI. p. 213. 
U. nanus, 3 Gallii, Auct. Plur. 
U. provincialis, Zegall, Fl. de Morbihan (non Lois.) 
Branches ascending, nearly straight, or slightly drooping. 
Primary spines strong, slightly furrowed. Wings rather longer 
than the keel, curved. 
On heaths and downs, local, and chiefly confined to the West 
of the Island, where it occurs from Somersetshire to Wigtownshire. 
On the Hast it is only known to occur in the county of North- 
umberland. 
England, Scotland. Shrub. Autumn. 
