Nature Watch, with Ron Freethy

GORSE is one of those wonderful plants which is in flower during every month of the year.

In fact, there are two very similar species which have overlapping flowering periods.

There are the western gorse and the common gorse and a colourful trio is completed by the broom.

Our local hillsides in late spring and early summer are covered with the golden flowered shrubs of broom and gorse.

Their flowers look similar and they are both members of the pea family. They differ in that gorse is very prickly while the shrubs of broom are usually taller, more erect and lack prickles.

Broom gets its name from the old English "broom"which means a spiny shrub but the "spines" are very soft. The plant stems used to be bound into bundles and fastened to a handle. They were then used as brushes which we still call brooms.

Another old name for broom was Planta genista. The coat of arms of Henry II included a sprig of broom pods, because his father came from Anjou, in France, where the plant is common.

It was from this old name that the Plantagenet royal family took their name. Broom was thought to have magic powers and who has not heard of a witch flying away on her broomstick.

Gorse was known in the old days as Furze and, as it burns very well, it was collected and used to get fires going. It was also fed to cattle.

Yet another old name for gorse is Whin, which is said to be used in Norway and other parts of Scandinavia. It was the Vikings who first brought the name Whin to Britain. In the late summer both gorse and broom show that they are members of the pea family by developing pods.

As the pods of gorse and broom dry in the summer sun they twist and eventually explode. The explosion throws the seeds out with such force that if they strike you they cause a sharp but quite bearable pain. The sound of a pod bursting is quite loud enough to hear.

The small seeds thrown out from gorse are sometimes eaten by ants and these strong insects often move them and then forget about them and thus help the gorse to spread.

There are two good reasons for not picnicking close to gorse bushes. One is the sharp prickles and the other is the ants.

Both gorse and broom are best seen from a distance when they cover the summer hillsides and add brightness even to the dullest of days.

Yet another way to appreciate gorse to the full is in winter when the flowers reflect sunlight after a night of snow or when icicles are hanging from the branches.

If I had to select a British plant for all seasons then it would have to be the gorse.