Gorse & it's many uses

Did you know that Gorse flowers are edible? You'll find out a whole lot more about them in my Wet Season Foraging Guide (& don't forget to enter the 4 x Foraging Guides giveaway in my last post).

Why would I include Gorse in my Foraging Guide, when it's well known in New Zealand as a highly invasive pest plant, often referred to as a 'weed'.

Well, I definitely have a thing for 'weeds'. They are the pioneers of the soil. The first plants to cover bare earth, creating habitat for many lifeforms, protecting the soil from sun, wind, rain. Mining the subsoil for nutrients and feeding the soil with the accumulated nutrients. Weeds are super abundant and adaptive. Go anywhere in the world & you'll find weeds.

What many people don't realise is that many of these 'weeds' with bad reputations are actually edible, also super nutritious with a vast array of medicinal properties. This is the part that most fascinates me.

If we look at the history, folklore, myths and legends surrounding many plants (including weeds), we'll discover many references to their identification, where they grow, how they can be used, medicinal benefits etc.

Gorse is no different, when we look into the history, we discover why this invasive plant was introduced into NZ in the first place.

Gorse (Urex europaeus) is part of the pea/legume family.

In Britain Gorse was planted in mass in agricultural areas to improve & enrich the soil (legume family plants fix nitrogen into the soil via their roots).

Every part of the plant was valued, to the point that laws were passed to ensure that it wasn't overharvested (can you believe it!). The plant was managed to prevent spreading, the young shoots were used to feed livestock, the oil rich wood as firewood, the ashes to make soaps & as a rich source of potassium to be used as a fertiliser. The roots were used to stabilise loose soil & prevent erosion.

Gorse flowers provide valuable nectar and food for bees during winter & is a valued medicine in the Bach flower essences, used for those feeling hopeless to encourage hope & faith.

UNFORTUNATELY, Gorse has become an invasive pest and I DO NOT in anyway endorse the planting of Gorse in NZ.

Learn more about this and other wild weeds in my Wet Season Foraging Guide.

You might also like to watch the documentary by Happen Films:

"about Hinewai Nature Reserve, on New Zealand’s Banks Peninsula, and its kaitiaki/manager of 30 years, botanist Hugh Wilson. When, in 1987, Hugh let the local community know of his plans to allow the introduced ‘weed’ gorse to grow as a nurse canopy to regenerate farmland into native forest, people were not only skeptical but outright angry – the plan was the sort to be expected only of “fools and dreamers”.

Now considered a hero locally and across the country, Hugh oversees 1500 hectares resplendent in native forest, where birds and other wildlife are abundant and 47 known waterfalls are in permanent flow. He has proven without doubt that nature knows best – and that he is no fool."