Gorse is a dense, spiny, evergreen shrub that resembles Scotch Broom. It grows to 10 feet tall with erect, angular stems. Branches end in a sharp spne 1/2 to 2 inches long.

Gorse flowers most often in early spring, long before most Scotch Broom flowers. The yellow flowers are shaped like those of peas, 1/2 to 3/4 inch long.

Gorse produces a lot of seeds and scatters them from bursting pods for several feet around the mother plant. Seeds can be picked up from the ground by animals, machinery, and water and carried to new sites. The seeds can remain viable (able to sprout) for up to 20 years. Because of this, eradicated plant sites must be checked year after year for new sprouts from seeds.

Gorse is slow to get established, but once of sufficient size it will grow rapidly, crowd out all other vegetation, and establish a dense, impenetrable thicket. As the plant grows, parts die off leaving patches of dried matter with a high oil content. This can lead to a fire hazard. The City of Bandon on the South Oregon Coast experienced a devastating fire decades ago caused by a fire in one of its numerous Gorse patches.

Presently only isolated patches of Gorse have been located in Clatsop County, primarily in the Clatsop Spit area. However, there is a stand covering an area 60 feet wide by 3000 feet long on West Sand Island in the Columbia River.
 
 
 

For more information on Gorse and other weeds, please visit the following Web sites:

California Dept of Agriculture
http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/weedinfo

USDA Home page for all plants. Click on "invasive and noxious" or use Search feature
http://plants.usda.gov

Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service _ Noxious Weed Home page
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/weeds/

Wildlife Invasive Species Team/ Nature Conservancy - searchable web page
http://tncweeds.ucdavis.edu/esadocs.html