Ulex europaeus

General Description:

Ulex europaeus a spiny weed, 5ft. tall, introduced in to India from England and Europe, and naturalized at the higher altitudes of the Nilgiris, Palni and Kodaikanal hills of South India; it is also cultivated in the Simla hills as a winter-fodder. Branches striped, sometimes modified in to subulate throns; leaves simply, scaly, ending in a spinescent point; flowers yellow, fragrant, solitary or impairs in the axils crowded at the ends of branchlets; pods oblong, dark brown, turgid, few seeded. It is nowgrowing wild in India over large areas in the Nilgiris, frequenting the roadsides and borders of cultivated fields.