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Heaths and hills are turned to a glorious yellow by the flowers of gorse in March or even earlier after a mild winter. A member of the pea family, it is also known as furze and, in Scotland, as whin.

The 2-6ft bushes are useful as well as beautiful being planted for hedges in Ireland. In Scotland the young shoots used to be crushed in whinmills and fed to cattle. I myself often gave sprigs of gorse to my horses as a treat. Whinbark is still used for a yellow dye in the manufacture of tartan cloth.

An old country saying is that when gorse is out of bloom kissing is out of fashion. Common gorse ceases to flower in June, but lovers are safe because there are two rarer species which ensure that there are some flowers throughout the year.