I)APHNE TEiBE 113 



garden, where they flower, flourish, and bring forth fruit to maturitie." He 

 says of it that it is called Dutch Mezereon, but that he avouIcI rather call it 

 Chamekea Germanica. He also gives it the name of Spurge Flaxe or Dwarff'e 

 Bay. Parkinson, who calls it FloAvering Spurge, says that this species grows 

 wild in Germany, but that the Spurge Laui'el grows wild in England ; and 

 the best botanist of early days, John Ray, never discovered it among our 

 wild plants. The Germans call the plant Gemeiner Seidelbast, or Kellcrhalz ; 

 the Italians term it Laureola femina, Biondella, or Camelia ; and the French, 

 besides its common name of Laurcole femelle, give it that also of Bois gentil, 

 Mrz^rcon, and BoisjoU. The name of Mezereon seems to be from its Persian 

 name of Madzarijoun. 



The roots of the plant are large and very acrid, and have long been a 

 popular remed}' for toothache ; but they should never be used in a fresh 

 state, as they are likely to produce considerable inflammation in the mouth. 

 The bark, which is also powerfully acrid, is frequently applied in France to 

 raise a blister on the skin, and the plant is extensively used in medicine on 

 the Continent. In Germany large quantities of this bark are in spring 

 stripped from the branches, and being folded in small bundles, are dried for 

 use ; its taste is at first sweet, but its acrimony is soon perceptible. The 

 berries are highly poisonous, and are employed in Sweden to destroy wolves 

 and foxes. Linnceus records a case in which a dose of these berries proved 

 fatal to a man ; and Dr. Thornton mentions that his sister died in childhood 

 from having swallowed a small number of them. Gerarde says, "If a 

 drunkard doe eat one graine or berrie of it he cannot be allowed to drinke 

 at that time, such will be the heate of his mouth and choking in the throte." 

 If children taste these berries accidentally, oil, fresh butter, or milk should 

 immediately be given. In Dauphiny, as well as in Siberia, these fruits are, 

 however, of a less noxious character than in our climate ; and they are com- 

 monly usfed medicinally, thirty berries forming a dose. In Siberia, where 

 they are called Wild Pepper, they are given to children in whooping-cough. 

 The Russian ladies are said to rub their cheeks with the fruits of the 

 Mezereon, to heighten their colour by a slight irritation. A decoction of 

 the plant is mingled with other ingredients in the Lisbon diet drink, and this 

 decoction is considered alterative and similar to sarsaparilla. The robin feeds 

 eagerly on Mezereon berries, and they are also much relished by other birds. 

 Several foreign species of Daphne have a most tenacious bark, and from the 

 bark of one of them, D. hholua, a fine soft paper is manufactured. Sir 

 Joseph Hooker says that the books in the convent of Yangma, in Nepal, were 

 of the usual Tibetan form, an oblong square, and that they consisted of 

 several leaves of paper made of the bark of a Daphne, bound together by 

 silk cords, and placed between ornamental wooden boards. The vegetable 

 lace of Jamaica is the inner bark of Lcujetta Unfedria, a plant very nearly 

 allied to the Daphne ; the lace looks like the product of art, forming a silky 

 web. A frill, cravat, and ruffles were made of this material for Charles II. 

 Several species of Daphne are found in our gardens, and one which is not 

 unfrequent there, the Neapolitan Mezereon, is an evergreen, and grows on 

 the hills and open places of some parts of Italy as freely as the furze grows 

 on our moorlands. 



m. — 15 



