FURZE. 255 



sidered a dainty for man, although Pliny con- 

 sidered it the natural food of the ass. 



Botanists divide the furze into two species, 

 Ulex Europ&us, the common large kind, and 

 Ulex nanus, the dwarf furze, with decumbent 

 branches, and spines horizontal, or partly de- 

 flexed. Dr. Witherington thus distinguishes 

 the two species. In the common one, the 

 corolla is longer than the calyx, and the thorns 

 longer than the corolla. In the dwarf furze 

 the corolla is as long as the calyx, and the 

 thorns are shorter than the corolla. 



Naturalists observe, that the pods of the 

 furze open with the warmth of the sun, and 

 that the seeds are cast out by an elastic 

 spring to a great distance all around, where 

 they soon vegetate. 



The furze is an excellent shelter, where the 

 seeds of forest trees, such as acorns, beech- 

 masts, chesnuts, &c. are planted; as this 

 thorny shrub will secure them until they grow 

 up, when the trees will starve and destroy 

 their early protectors. 



" And what more noble than the vernal furze, 

 With golden baskets hung? Approach it not, 

 For ev'ry blossom has a troop of swords 

 Drawn to defend it. ' Tis the treasury 

 Of fays and fairies. Here they nightly meet, 

 Each with a burnish'd kingcup in his hand, 

 And quaff the subtile ether," 



HURDIS. 



