486 THE NATIVE TREES AND SHRUBS OF CARNARVONSHIRE. 
PAPILIONACES (Six Species, belonging to Four Genera). 
11. The Common Furze, Gorse, or Whin (Ulex ewropeus).— 
This, perhaps our commonest native plant, is ever an object of ad- 
miration to the lover of simple beauty ; and we can hardly wonder 
at Linnzeus prostrating himself in a transport of admiration on first 
beholding its brilliant and widely extended exuberance. Dillenius, 
too, looked upon our heath-lands, covered with its profusion of 
golden flowers, and said that he could not find words to express the 
pleasure which the sight of this plant had given him. It is an 
evergreen from 2 ft. or 3 ft. to frequently as much as 6 ft. in height, 
with numerous intricate branches ending in stout thorns. The 
wood is very hard, of a deep yellow colour, but never attains to a 
size available for the use of the carpenter, although in the manufac- 
ture of walking-sticks it is not unfrequently employed. Where the 
plant grows unusually luxuriant the stems are, in some parts of 
Wales, cut for fuel ; while in the south of England they are bound 
in faggots for oven-heating, a purpose for which the wood is especi- 
ally adapted, as it burns rapidly and with a great degree of heat. 
As food for cows, horses, and sheep, the gorse when chopped and 
bruised is considered to be highly nutritious, and is cultivated 
for this purpose in various parts of the country. 
When properly managed it makes a useful hedge or fence, but 
requires frequent cutting to prevent it becoming naked at the root. 
On a raised bank, of from 2 ft. to 3 ft. in height, the seeds should 
be sown in March, after which, for two years, they will require no 
attention ; but during the third and following seasons, an annual 
summer pruning will alone prevent the furze from getting bare at 
the bottom, or wearing that dead, unsightly appearance that is 
so characteristic of it under neglect. 
12. The Dwarf Furze (U. e. nanus).—As the name denotes, this is 
a small growing shrub, less hairy, and of a deeper green than the 
common furze, of which, indeed, it is by some botanists considered 
as a mere variety, although the luxuriant and more upright growth 
of the latter is strongly contrasted by the stunted, dwarfish appear- 
ance of the plant in question. It is by no means so frequently met 
with as the common form, although in certain districts it is tolerably 
abundant, covering tracts of the mountain sides in various parts of 
England and Wales. The common Welsh form is, however, recog- 
nised as distinct from the typical dwarf plant, and is known under 
the name of Galli. It is usually less procumbent than nanus, 
