112 THYMELE^ 



mountain plant, growing at great elevations near waterfalls and rivulets; 

 and it is very common on the wet mossy rocks in such places from North 

 Wales northwards. It is in appearance somewhat like our Common Sorrel, 

 and possesses a similar acidity, but is a much shorter and stouter plant, and its 

 root-leaves, which are kidney-shaped and fleshy, are on long stalks. The 

 flowers grow, from June to August, in clustered spikes, and are of a greenish 

 colour. The stems are from eight to ten inches high, and are usually leaf- 

 less. It is also known as 0, digyna. 



Order LXXII. THYMELEiE— DAPHNE TRIBE. 



Perianth tubular, often coloured, 4 rarely 5 cleft, occasionally having 

 scales in its mouth ; stamens 8, 4, or 2, inserted in the tube of the jaerianth ; 

 ovary 1-celled, style 1 ; stigma undivided ; fruit a 1 -seeded nut or drupe. 

 The order consists of shrubs with undivided leaves, and remarkably tough 

 and caustic bark. In some cases the berries are poisonous. 



Mezereon and Spurge Laurel {Daphne). — Perianth single, often 

 coloured, 4-cleft ; stamens 8 ; fruit a berry. Named from the Nymph 

 Daphne, who was changed into a Laurel, many of the species having laurel- 

 like leaves. 



Mezereon and Spurge Laurel (Ddphne). 



1. Common Mezereon {D. mezereum). — Flowers lateral and sessile, 

 mostly in threes ; tube hairy ; segments egg-shaped and acute ; leaves 

 lanceolate, shed in autumn ; perennial. The Mezereon is a small shrub, 

 found, though rarely, in English woods, as in some of Sussex, Suffolk, and 

 Hampshire. In some places, doubtless, it is either the outcast of the neigh- 

 bouring garden, or was borne thence into the woods by birds ; but it is 

 thought by the authors of the " British Flora " to be probably wild in Hamp- 

 shire. AVe are all familiar with it, however, as a garden shrub, for its bright 

 purplish or occasionally white fragrant flowers are welcome there in February 

 and March, when the crocuses and snowdrops are almost its sole companions. 

 The leaves begin to appear about the time at which the flowers are fully 

 expanded, and they are of a most delicate green tint, while in autumn the 

 bright red berries cluster in numbers among the foliage, the hue of which 

 has gradually deepened to a full green. It is a bushy shrub, about two or 

 three feet high, and it grows well beneath the shade of trees. It is found in 

 all European countries, and is a very common plant in the woods of Germany, 

 where it overshadows the bright blue hepaticas, which in spring gleam from 

 among the fallen leaves of winter. It does not seem to have been known to 

 our earliest writers as a British plant, for Turner does not mention it ; but 

 Gerarde says of it, " This plant groweth naturally in the moyst and shadowie 

 woods of most of the East countries, especially about Elbing, which we call 

 Meluin in Polande, from Avhence I have had great plentie thereof for my 



