n4 feANTALACE^— SA^^bAL-WOOD TKIBE 



2. Common Spurge Laurel {D. laurMa). — Leaves lanceolate, narrow- 

 ing at the base, evergreen, thick, and glossy ; flowers each with a short 

 bract, in axillary drooping clusters, which are shorter than the leaves ; 

 perennial. This evergreen plant is very common in the woods of England, 

 but is rare, and, perhaps, not truly wild in Scotland. It has a stout stem, 

 from one to three feet high, with scarcely any leaves at the lower part, but 

 bearing at the summit of its stem and branches tufts of bright glossy laurel- 

 like leaves, which, however, soon twist and turn brown if too much exposed 

 to the sun. The flowers hang from January to May among the leaves, 

 looking as if cut out of pale green wax, and being about five in a cluster. 

 The berries are oval, at first green, but becoming black when ripe ; and they 

 are believed to be poisonous to all animals except birds. The plant thrives 

 best among trees, and is often grown in shrubberies. Its properties are 

 similar to those of the Mezereon, and it is used for similar purposes, l)ut both 

 plants are so acrid that persons employed in pounding them often suffer con- 

 siderable inconvenience from the irritation caused by the joarticles rising from 

 them. A stimulating ointment made of this species is commonly used in 

 villages in this and other countries. The name of Spurge Laurel is not 

 inappropriate to this Daphne, as it somewhat resembles our wood Spurge. 

 The French call it Laurcole male, or Laureole dcs Anglais ; the Germans term 

 it Immcrgruner Scidelhast ; and the Italians, Laureola maschio. 



Order LXXIII. SANTALACE.E— SANDAL-WOOD TRIBE. 



Perianth attached to the ovary, 4- or 5-cleft, valvate when in bud ; 

 stamens 3 — 5, opposite the lobes of the perianth ; ovary 1-celled ; style 1 ; 

 stigma often lobed ; fruit a hard dry drupe. This order receives its name 

 from the Sandal- wood of the East {."^fanfalum album), and consists of trees, 

 shrubs, and herbaceous plants, which are usually root-parasites. The only 

 British genus contained in it is the small Bastard Toad-flax. 



Bastard Toad-flax (Thcmnn). — Perianth 4 — 5 cleft, not falling oft"; 

 stamens with a small bundle of hairs at their base ; drupe crowned with the 

 perianth. Name of doubtful origin. 



Bastard Toad-flax (Thesium). 



1. Lint-leaved Bastard Toad-flax (T. linoj)hyllvm). — Stems prostrate 

 or ascending; leaves linear-lanceolate, 1 -nerved ; clusters leafy ; flower-stalks 

 with three bracts ; perennial, with a woody rootstock. This is a rare plant, 

 inhabiting chalky and limestone hills, but not extending north of Gloucester- 

 shire and Norfolk. It has many herbaceous, spreading, leafy stems, ter- 

 minated in July by clusters of whitish-green flowers, and its leaves are very 

 narrow and pointed. It is parasitic upon the roots of various pasture plants. 

 The Thesium was said by Athcnajus to be so called because it formed part 

 of the garland presented by Theseus to Ainadne ; but the Theseion of the 

 ancients was undoubtedly a different genus from ours, which comprises only 

 obscure and unattractive little plants. The French call the Bastard Toad- 



