956 ULEX. [CLASS XVII. ORDER III. 
ovate oblong, scarcely longer than the calyx.—Name of doubtful 
origin. According to Theis it is derived from ¢e, or ac, a sharp 
point, in Celtic ; from whence also it is said the French name 
ajone, or acjone, a sharp or spiny rush, is derived. 
1. U. Europe'us, Linn. (Fig. 1107.) Common Furze, Whin, or 
Gorse. Calyx teeth obsolete ; bracteas ovate, lax, much wider than 
the peduncle; branchlets erect; leaves linear, acuminated into a 
pungent point. 
English Botany, t. 742.—English Flora, vol. iii. p. 264—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 266.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 77. 
8. minor. Branches compact, upright, soft. 
Hooker, British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 267.—U. strictus.—Mackay’s 
Cat. of Irish Plants, Lindley’s Synopsis, Supp. p. 322. 
Roots long, deep. Shrub from two to six feet high, much and 
densely branched, upright, green, rough and rigid, furrowed, and 
mostly downy, terminating in a stout spine, and thickly beset on all 
sides with short branchlets, a simple rigid spine, or bearing several 
smaller lateral ones. Leaves few, very minute, lanceolate, hairy, soon 
falling away. lowers numerous, solitary, or in pairs from the axis 
of the lateral spines, a bright golden yellow, with a peculiarly heavy 
oppressive odour. Peduncles short, bearing near the calyx a pair of 
broad ovate scaly downy bracteas, as wide again as the peduncle. 
Calyx of two densely downy concave pieces, the teeth so closely 
united as to appear wanting. Legume downy, turgid, bursting with a 
sudden elastic force in hot weather; in bursting they make a 
crackling noise, and scatter the seeds to a considerable distance. 
Habitat.—Heathy places, especially in a sandy or gravelly soil. 
Shrub; flowering early in the spring, and occasionally all the 
summer. 
Furze, or as it is called in some parts of the country Whin, or 
Gorse, is a very rigid, rough inhospitable looking bush, growing 
abundantly in most of the heathy waste lands of England, especially 
in a dry sandy or gravelly soil. Its wood is hard and compact, and 
together with its spiny branches it is cut and kept in store for winter 
fuel, and in a few minutes it makes an excellent hot cheerful fire. 
As an ornamental shrub, few surpass it in the beautiful fine bright 
colour of its numerous flowers, and few plants in the wild situations 
of its growth continue in flower so long as it does. In some parts of 
the country it is used to make fences. It is extremely patient of 
pruning and trimming; but unless it is fully exposed at the bottom, 
its branches become naked and barren, and it is no further a barrier to 
sheep. It is, perhaps, more commonly used for the purpose of fences 
in Ireland than England; and although it requires a larger portion of 
land to make a good fence thar the common thorn, it is, never- 
theless, there preferred, as its old branches not only supply a useful 
fuel, (if, however, it is cut for this purpose oftener than once in four 
