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FURZE
Ulex europaeus
Family Leguminosae
Abundant in England, Ireland and southern Scotland, on heaths and sandy places. It is about April that it is in its full glory, and one may gather, about that time, enormous trusses of deliciously fragrant golden flowers—if one is not deterred by its formidable spines.
It is a shrub, growing as high as six feet, and more or less hairy. The numerous short branches, from which the flowers spring, all terminate In a stout, very sharp thorn.
The calyx is divided into two parts only, is large and thin, minutely toothed, and coloured yellow, which is subdued by the black hairs that cover it. There are large bracts below the flowers.
The black hairy seed-pod is but slightly longer than the calyx, the valves elastic, which causes them, when ripe, to curl up with a crackling noise, and scatter widely the polished seeds.
As a seedling, the Furze has soft hairy leaves that are trefoils ; but as the plant grows older the new leaf material is produced as spines.
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