392 DICOTYLEDONS AND CONIFERS 



Dr Cockayne states that this species, normally yellow, and varying 

 but little in its native land, has undergone many changes on the dunes 

 near New Brighton, Canterbury, in the colour of its flowers. There 

 are, e.g., a pure white, yellows of various tints, and a great variety of 

 purples combined, or not, with whites and yellows. These abnormally 

 coloured plants occur in patches here and there as a general rule, 

 and appear to get more abundant year by year. Such variations have 

 not been noticed by him in the North Island, nor in Central Otago. 



Ulex europaus, Linn. Gorse; Whin; Furze 



No doubt an early introduction. When Darwin was at the Bay 

 of Islands in 1835 he says: "At Waimate I saw gorse for fences; five 

 years ago nothing but the fern flourished here." 



Some of the early settlers in New Zealand sowed Gorse for sheep- 

 feed. About 1890 a Mr Williams sowed a pretty large area of it in 

 drills, and the sheep managed to keep it down for a few years, but 

 ultimately, of course, it got ahead of them, and so filled the ground. 

 At the time of his sowing gorse was well established over the country. 

 This was at Pakaraka in the Bay of Islands district. 



The plant spreads by means of its elastic seed vessels which throw 

 the seeds to a considerable distance. It seeds very freely in New 

 Zealand, but in spite of its brilliancy and attractiveness of colour I do 

 not think its flowers are often cross-fertilised. I have examined long 

 stretches of gorse hedges in full bloom ; on one occasion a hive-bee 

 was seen on the flowers, apparently gathering pollen ; and a few blow- 

 flies (Calliphora) visited them, but I never saw a humble-bee on them. 

 In 1893 it was a very common weed in many parts of New Zealand, 

 and to-day is most abundant. Petrie informs me that the seeds are 

 freely eaten and distributed by Calif ornian quail. It would be inter- 

 esting, however, to ascertain whether the seeds are ground up by the 

 birds in the process of digestion, or whether they escape trituration 

 and are passed undigested. 



This species was declared a noxious weed in the Second Schedule 

 of the Act of 1900. 



In damp seasons in Auckland and the districts to the north of it, 

 gorse is a much more leafy and less spinous plant than it is, for 

 instance, in Otago; it flowers from August to April in the north; 

 but in the south it is found to bloom right through the winter. 



Dr Cockayne points out that some remarkable more or less here- 

 ditary variations have come about in this species, such as colour 

 changes from normal yellow to white, differences in shape and size 

 of flowers, and variation in the time of blooming. He also notes that 

 it does not spread at above 2000 ft. altitude. 



