Gorse

Golden with flowers, the spiny gorse thickets on Irish hillsides bloom almost all year round and smell of coconut.

Gorse is a dense, evergreen shrub 1–2.5 m tall whose leaves have turned into stiff, sharp spines. Its bright yellow, pea-like flowers smell of coconut and vanilla; it flowers most profusely in spring, though a few flowers can be found at any time of year. It grows on poor, acidic soils – heaths, cliffs, waste ground and field margins. Thanks to nitrogen-fixing bacteria it colonises barren land, and in dry springs it catches fire easily, which helps it regenerate.

Significance in the country

For centuries gorse was used in Ireland for hedging, as fuel for the fire and as fodder for horses. Its flowers were laid by the door and on the “May bush” at the festival of Bealtaine to bring the household luck and protection.

Where it grows

Throughout the country on hills, cliffs, heaths and along roads; its flowering is most spectacular in spring in the Wicklow Mountains, in Kerry and on the western coasts.

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