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Gorse
NOXIOUS WEED: W2
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Ulex europaeus |
| family: FABACEAE |
| Description |
- Ferociously prickly, perennial, fast-growing evergreen shrub to 5m, from Western Europe. Forms dense thickets.
- Stems are many-branched, rough, brown, ribbed, woody and densely hairy.
- Leaves are numerous, grey-green, hairy, narrow and spiny.
- Abundant bright yellow clusters of fragrant pea flowers are produced from late winter to spring, again 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.
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| Dispersal |
Seed is dispersed by water, in soil and on machinery.
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| Impact on Bushland |
Follows watercourses, infests swamps, forming impenetrable stands which replace rare native plants and threaten fragile bushland environments. Gorse is also a serious fire hazard.
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| Distribution |
Upper Blue Mountains.
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| Alternative Planting |
Dagger Hakea (Hakea teretifolia) 3m; Mountain Devil (Lambertia formosa) 3m; Heath Banksia (Banksia ericifolia) to 4m; Woolly Tea Tree (Leptospermum langigerum) 3m. Photinia (Photinia glabra 'Rubens') makes a colourful hedge; many Viburnum species, Camellias and Rhododendrons can also be good hedging plants.
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| Control |
Dig out, or treat as for Woody Weeds. Expect to remove seedlings for many years.
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 Gorse is one of the Blue Mountains worst weeds  Leaves and stems of Gorse are ferociously prickly
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