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Ulex gallii Planchon, Western Gorse

Account Summary

Native, very rare but possibly under-recorded. Oceanic temperate.

4 July 1997; McNeill, I.; Tempo River at Tonyglaskan Bridge.

The solitary Fermanagh record along the Tempo River indicates the possibility that this much smaller, more compact, rather dwarf form of gorse may have been overlooked elsewhere in the VC. Like its much taller relative U. europaeus (Gorse), this species typically occupies infertile, acidic soils on neglected or abandoned, stony pastures, scrubby or heathy banks and slopes, cliffs and waste ground.

Western Gorse differs from Gorse not only in its size, but also in its main flowering period, which is in late summer and autumn. Ulex europaeus has its main flush of flowers in the early spring from March onwards and although it continues to bear a smattering of blossom in a very sporadic manner throughout the rest of the year (proving conclusively that kissing is never out of season!), it does not have any secondary major flush of flowering at any later period of the year.

Although the English common name of this leguminous shrublet is 'Western Gorse' and the New Atlas map shows a very pronounced overall western predominance to the records in Britain, the main area for U. gallii in NI very definitely lies in the Mourne mountains and the nearby Slieve Croob areas in SE Co Down (H38), where the species is really very common (Preston et al. 2002). Elsewhere in NI, U. gallii is frequently met chiefly on exposed coastal heaths and it appears inland in counties Tyrone (H36), Londonderry (H40) and Fermanagh (H33), but in Tyrone to a much greater extent than to date in Fermanagh.

Threats

None.