Gorse - friend or enemy?

Gorse has such a pretty flower!

Introduced into NZ by English immigrants from the UK it spread like wildfire over cleared land, and has been the bane of farmers ever since.

However in more recent times it has been discovered that it can act as a nursery for regrowth of native forests, protecting new soft growth from browsing and the elements until it is well established when it will hopefully smother the gorse, cutting off the light.

Being a leguminous plant it also adds nitrogen to the soil.