PAPILIONACE.E. 



183 



racemes, intermixed with thorns at the 

 end of the branches. Calyx yellow like 

 the petals and but little shorter, clothed 

 with brownish hairs, with a small, broad 

 bract about a line long on each side at 

 the base, besides a similar bract under 

 the short pedicel. Petals narrow. 



On heaths and sandy and stony wastes 

 in western Europe, extending eastward 

 to northern and central Germany, but 

 not a Mediterranean species. Abundant 

 in England, Ireland, and southern Scot- 

 land, more scarce in the north. Fl. 

 spring and early summer, commencing 

 occasionally in winter, or even late in 

 autumn. A double-flowering variety, 

 and another with compact erect branches, 

 commonly called Irish Furze (or U. 

 stricta), are frequent in gardens. 



Fig. 223. 



2. Dwarf Furze. Ulex nanus, Eorst. (Fig. 224.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 743.) 



Yery near the common F., and per- 

 haps a mere variety. It is of smaller 

 stature, less hairy, and of a deeper green ; 

 the flowers of a deeper golden-yellow, 

 and smaller ; the calyx glabrous, or with 

 only a few short, scattered hairs, and 

 the bracts at its base very much smaller, 

 sometimes quite microscopic. 



On heaths and sandy or stony wastes, 

 more strictly western than the common 

 F., as it does not cross the Rhine, but 

 often intermixed with that species. Yery 

 abundant in Britain. FL summer and 

 autumn, whilst the common F. is in fruit. 

 There are two forms, sometimes very 

 distinct, at others running much one into 

 the other ; one, the original Z7. nanus, 

 found chiefly in the plains of eastern 

 England, is very dwarf or procumbent, 



h^ 



Fig. 224. 



