Gorse is a large, evergreen shrub covered in needle-like leaves and distinctive, coconut-perfumed, yellow flowers during the spring and summer. There are three species of gorse in the UK, which are all very similar: Common Gorse is widespread and mainly flowers form January to June, Western Gorse flowers in later summer and autumn and is mainly found in western parts of the UK; whereas Dwarf Gorse, which also flowers later, is mainly found in the south and east of England and is absent from Ireland.