FUKZE. 



Ulex Europceus. Nat. Ord., Leyuminosce. 



O one who is at all familiar 

 with our commons and waste 

 lands can be ignorant of 

 the present plant, its rich 

 wealth of golden blossoms 

 stretching over many acres of 

 ground, the sweet fragrance 

 of its flowers, and the long 

 duration of its flowering season, 

 being all points that arrest 

 the attention even of the 

 most indifferent. Early in 

 the month of February we 

 may find it here and there 

 in blossom, "a, token to the 

 wintry earth that beauty 

 liveth still;" and as the 

 spring advances the dark and 

 sombre-looking masses of prickly foliage become thickly 

 laden with its brilliant blossoms. As the spring passes 

 into summer, and the primroses, hyacinths, and all 

 the other floral beauties of the opening year give place 

 to their successors, the furze still continues in all its rich- 

 ness of colour; and as summer, in turn, gives place to 



