DAPHNE MEZEREUM. 
Tue Seconpary CHARACTERS. 
Darune. Calyx four-cleft, marcescent. Limb spreading. 
Stamens eight, included in calyx-tube. Style one. Drupe 
one-seeded. 
Calyx wanting. Corolla four-cleft, withering, including the stamens. Drupe 
one-seeded. 
_. Tue Speciric Cuaracrers. 
Darune Mezerevm. Leaves deciduous, lanceolate, in ter- 
minal tufts, entire, sessile. Flowers sessile, about three from 
each lateral bud. Calyx hypocrateriform. Segments ovate, 
spreading. Stamens inserted in two rows near the top of the 
tube. Filament very short. Stigma sessile. 
Flowers sessile, cauline, in threes. eaves lanceolate. 
Tue Artiricta, CHaracTErs. 
Cuass Octanprra. Stamens eight. Orper Monocynta. 
Apetalous. Ovary superior. Fruit a one-seeded drupe. 
Shrubs with a very tenacious bark, alternate or opposite 
Leaves entire. Flowers perfect. 
_ NATURAL HISTORY. 
Mezereon grows wild in England and in many parts ot 
the North of Europe, but for medical use and as an orna- 
mental shrub it is cultivated in gardens. It is mentioned by 
Linnzus as a characteristic of the genus, to which the plant 
under consideration belongs, that the terminating buds of the 
shoots produce leaves, and the lateral ones flowers. This af- 
fords a hint to the cultivator to be sparing of his knife. It 
flowers very early in the season, before the appearance of the, 
leaves. It is an old inhabitant of the shrubbery, and de- 
servedly much admired for its precocity and fragrance. It 
thrives well in loamy soil, and will grow in the shade, and 
even under the drip of other trees. It is a native of all parts 
of Europe, from Lapland to Sicily, but was first received from 
Etbing before it was observed to be a native. The roots of 
Mezereon are large in proportion to the branches, and have 
more the character of the fusiform or ramose roots of a herba- 
ceous than of a ligneous vegetable. _ 
_ ‘The plant is hardy, seldom exceeding four feet in height, 
with a strong, woody, branching stem covered with a smooth 
gray cuticle, and a tough fibrous inner bark. The root is of 
te 
