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Gorse? What's gorse?

2

Comments

  • #32
    RobertKK
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33,775 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    Furze, gorse, whin, are all Ulex europaeus.


  • #33
    sbsquarepants
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,810 ✭✭✭✭sbsquarepants


    Never heard of furze or whins, gorse it is!


  • #34
    fatknacker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,342 ✭✭✭fatknacker


    sbsquarepants wrote: »
    Never heard of furze or whins, gorse it is!


    Of gorse it is!


  • #35
    josip
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,666 ✭✭✭✭josip


    Furze

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Stephen%27s_Day

    The wren, the wren, the king of all birds,
    St. Stephen's Day was caught in the furze,
    Although he was little his honour was great,
    Jump up me lads and give us a treat.


  • #36
    Fratton Fred
    Closed Accounts Posts: 26,567 ✭✭✭✭Fratton Fred


    [Deleted User] wrote: »
    It just struck me as the creeping anglicisation where we have words that suffice.

    Furze is used in England as well, although gorse is more common.


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  • #37
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    Well what's fen then?


  • #38
    Guy:Incognito
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 38,227 ✭✭✭✭Guy:Incognito


    Is it not something to do with big houses in Killiney?:)


  • #39
    FunLover18
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,793 ✭✭✭FunLover18


    RobertKK wrote:
    Furze, gorse, whin, are all Ulex europaeus.


    Yeh but ulex europaeus fires sounds completely daft!!


  • #40
    topper75
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,942 ✭✭✭topper75


    ThisRegard wrote: »
    Fraughans are bilberries though.

    Our bilberries and the N. American blueberries are cousins.
    Not sure how a smallish blueberry or fat bilberry could be distinguished to be honest.

    For the record, Limerick/Clare has gorse and sallies. I've heard briars and brambles referred to here.


  • #41
    ThisRegard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,833 ✭✭✭✭ThisRegard


    catallus wrote: »
    Well what's fen then?

    The number after 9 for someone with a lisp.


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  • #42
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    Bilberries are sloes, right?


  • #43
    ThisRegard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,833 ✭✭✭✭ThisRegard


    topper75 wrote: »
    Not sure how a smallish blueberry or fat bilberry could be distinguished to be honest.

    Either do I in fairness. I only know they're different because it came up in a conversation some time ago and I never knew what a fraughen was, someone said they were blueberries but a google resolved that argument quick enough.


  • #44
    Rubberchikken
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,242 ✭✭✭Rubberchikken


    gorse , here in cork. furze too, maybe. never heard the term 'whins'. learn something new everyday:)


  • #45
    The Backwards Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭The Backwards Man


    catallus wrote: »
    Well what's fen then?

    Called slunks around here, fen is type of bogland, it's not a plant.


  • #46
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,500 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    catallus wrote: »
    Bilberries are sloes, right?
    Absolutely not, not even remotely. Sloes are the fruit of the blackthorn tree.


  • #47
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 12,694 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    catallus wrote: »
    Bilberries are sloes, right?

    No sloes grown on trees, fraughen are small blue/ black berries that grown on poor mountain soil they grow on a shrub near the ground.

    Sloes are the ancestor of Damsons.


  • #48
    catallus
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,106 ✭✭✭catallus


    Well I've walked on fen but I've never seen me a bilberry.


  • #49
    biko
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 81,060 ✭✭✭✭biko


    In Galway we say gorse, never heard them called anything else.


  • #50
    The Backwards Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭The Backwards Man


    Is a fraughen not a cranberry? We don't have them up here, only heard of them.


  • #51
    ThisRegard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 27,833 ✭✭✭✭ThisRegard


    catallus wrote: »
    Well I've walked on fen but I've never seen me a bilberry.

    End of July, start of August is harvesting time for them, there's even a specific Sunday set by, Fraughan Sunday naturally enough, last week in July.

    There's a place named after them in Wickow, Fraughan Rock Glen, just off Lugnaquilla.


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  • #52
    petrolcan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 898 ✭✭✭petrolcan


    Like a cat dragged backwards through a whinbush.


  • #53
    fatknacker
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,342 ✭✭✭fatknacker


    Ah you're all making up these words now, come on.

    Which is the one with the fuzzy stickyballs, though? Plant, that is.


  • #54
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,500 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    The Backwards Man wrote: »
    Is a fraughen not a cranberry? We don't have them up here, only heard of them.
    A fraughan is a bilberry or whortleberry, a relative of the North American blueberry. A small purplish dark blue fruit.

    Cranberries are a cultivated form of cowberries, lingonberries (Scandinavia) or Preiselbeeren (Germany), something that doesn't grow here at all AFAIK. They're small and red in colour.

    They are however related as they're both of the same genus, Vaccinium.


  • #55
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 12,694 ✭✭✭✭ [Deleted User]


    The Backwards Man wrote: »
    Is a fraughen not a cranberry? We don't have them up here, only heard of them.

    Are you sure they don't grow in Donegal?


  • #56
    RobertKK
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 33,775 ✭✭✭✭RobertKK


    Where I live in Kilkenny. We say furze.

    In my location you can find wild fruit like Fraughens (bilberries, a cousin of the bigger blueberry) wild strawberries (again minature fruit), wild cherries, wild gooseberries, wild raspberries, crab apples, elderberries, sloes, not to mention the blackberries.
    You can go for a walk in the summer and get your five a day...

    There is also red berry holly trees and yellow berry holly trees.
    Wild primrose, cowslips, orchids and so on.


  • #57
    The Backwards Man
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,299 ✭✭✭✭The Backwards Man


    mariaalice wrote: »
    Are you sure they don't grow in Donegal?

    Never seen them if they do. Cowberrys have a berry like a haw don't they? Seen them alright


  • #58
    uch
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,022 ✭✭✭uch


    Where I grew up it was called Concrete and it didn't burn !

    21/25



  • #59
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,500 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    The Backwards Man wrote: »
    Never seen them if they do. Cowberrys have a berry like a haw don't they? Seen them alright
    That's odd. I've come across fraughan in the Mournes and Cooleys, so I'd expect them up in Donegal.

    As regards cowberries/lingonberries I've never seen them down here in Wicklow. They're common enough in more northerly climes like Scotland though, so could well be at home in the north of Ireland I suppose.


  • #60
    whomitconcerns
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,416 ✭✭✭whomitconcerns


    furze in wicklow too

    but seemingly its actually called Ulex....who knew?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulex


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  • #61
    Alun
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,500 ✭✭✭✭Alun


    Just to confuse the matter there's broom as well. Similar looking from a distance with bright yellow flowers but not at all prickly.


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