Gorse

NOXIOUS WEED:  Class 3

Ulex europaeus

family: FABACEAE

Description

  • Ferociously prickly, perennial, fast-growing evergreen shrub. Gorse can grow to more than 5m in less than 3 years. Also called Furze. From Western Europe.
  • Stems are many-branched, rough, brown, ribbed, woody and densely hairy.
  • Leaves are numerous, grey-green, hairy, narrow and spiny.
  • Abundant deep golden yellow clusters of fragrant pea flowers are produced from late winter to spring, again, not as abundantly, in autumn.
  • Greenish-brown, oval-shaped hairy pods forcefully eject prolific numbers of long-lived seeds up to 5m from the plant. Soil may contain as many as 10,000 seeds per square metre; seeds survive for more than 25 years in the soil. Individual plants can live up to 30 years.
  • Spreads rapidly, follows watercourses, infests swamps, forms impenetrable thickets which replace rare native plants and threaten fragile bushland environments.

Dispersal

Seed is dispersed by water, in soil, on boots, on machinery, and in dumped garden waste.

Impact on Bushland

Spreads rapidly, follows watercourses, infests swamps, forming impenetrable thickets which replace rare native plants and threaten fragile bushland environments.

Distribution

Upper Blue Mountains.

Alternative Planting

Native Plants

Dagger Hakea (Hakea teretifolia) 3m
Mountain Devil (Lambertia formosa) 3m
Heath Banksia (Banksia ericifolia) to 4m
Woolly Tea Tree
(Leptospermum lanigerum) 3m
local species of Gomphalobium (Glory Peas)

Exotic alternatives
For hedge replacement see suggestions for Cherry Laurel.

Control

Dig out, or treat as for Woody Weeds. Expect to remove seedlings for many years.

Gorse is a Weed of National Significance.


Gorse originally planted for hedging is invading and destroying fertile farmland.

Gorse is a Class 3 Noxious Weed.

Characteristics
Class 3 noxious weeds are plants that pose a serious threat to primary production or the environment of an area to which the order applies, are not widely distributed in the area and are likely to spread in the area or to another area.

Control objective
Reduce the area and the impact of those plants in parts of NSW.

Control action
The plant must be fully and continuously suppressed and destroyed.

— NSW Noxious Weeds Act of 1993

Gorse is one of the Blue Mountains worst weeds.

Gorse is one of the Blue Mountains worst weeds.

Picture of Gorse flowers

Gorse produces massed clusters of deep golden yellow flowers from brown-tipped green buds.
photo: © Anne Bowman

Leaves and stems of Gorse are ferociously prickly.

Leaves and stems of Gorse are ferociously prickly.

Picture of Gorse flowers

Greenish-brown hairy pods forcefully eject seeds up tp 5m from the plant.

Picture of Gorse bush

Gorse was formerly used extensively for hedging, along with other invasive plants such as Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna, the red berries in this picture).