1308 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
England ; growing to the height of 4 ft., and flowering in February, March, 
or April. 
Varieties. 
z D. M. 2 lore albo has white flowers and yellow fruit. 
& D. M. 3 autumnale. — This is a remarkably distinct variety, not fas- 
tigiate in its mode of growth, but spreading; also with larger leaves 
than the species, and producing its flowers in autumn. These are 
very seldom succeeded by fruit, as might be expected from the season 
at which they are produced. It is a most desirable shrub, being 
commonly covered with its gay pinkish blossoms from November to 
March. It is rare in the nurseries about London ; and is principally 
propagated by the Messrs. Backhouse of York. 
Description, §c. The mezereon is a well-known shrub, much valued in 
our gardens and shrubberies for the beauty both of its flowers and fruit. It 
produces its agreeably fragrant flowers in February or March, before the 
leaves; when, as Cowper has beautifully expressed it, its branches are 
** Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset 
With blushing wreaths, investing every spray.” Task, book v. 
The whole shrub is poisonous to human beings, 
though the berries are a favourite food for finches, 
and other birds, more especially the robin. The 
bark is powerfully acrid: it is used in France for 
forming setons or slight blisters, and is very effica- 
cious in cases where it is thought desirable to pro- 
duce a slight serous discharge, without raising a 
large blister. When either the bark or berries are 
chewed, they produce violent and long-continued 
heat and irritation in the mouth and throat. The 
mezereon is sometimes used in medicine; but it 
requires to be administered by a_ skilful hand. 
When the berries have been eaten by children or 
others, accidentally, the best remedies are oil, fresh 
butter, linseed tea, milk, or some other kind of [. 
emollient, to allay the violence of the inflammation. 
The branches of this plant afford a yellow dye. The 
mezereon is of very easy culture. It is generally 
propagated by seeds; which, if suffered to get dry : 
before they are sown, will remain two years in the soil ; but which, if sown in 
autumn immediately after gathering them, generally come up the following 
spring. The best time for transplanting this shrub is in October, as it begins 
to vegetate very soon after Christmas. It thrives most in a loamy soil, and 
in an open situation ; and, when it is properly treated, and has room, it will 
in Sor 10 years form a bush 5 ft. or 6 ft. high, and 7 ft. or 8 ft. in diameter. 
There is a plant in the arboretum of Messrs. Loddiges, 6 ft. high. Price of 
plants, in the London nurseries, 50s. a hundred; and of the autumn-flowering 
variety, ls. 6d. a plant : at Bollwyller, 50 cents a plant: and at New York, 
20 cents, and of the white-flowered variety, 50 cents. 
gz 2. D. atta\ica Pall. The Altaic Daphne. 
Identification. Pall. F). Ross., 1. p. 53. t. 35.; Willd. Sp. Pl., 2. p. 422. ; Sims in Bot. Mag., t. 1875. 5 
Lodd. Cat., ed. 1836. 
Synonymes, Daphné altaique, Laureole de Tartarie, Fr.; Sibirischer Seidelbast, Ger. 
Engravings. Pall. Fl. Ross., 1. t. 35.; Bot. Mag., t. 1875. ; Bot. Cab., t. 3899. ; and our jig. 1181. 
Spec. Char., §c. eaves obovate-lanceolate, glabrous. Flowers sessile, in 
terminal umbels, about 5 in an umbel. (Sims in Bot. Mag., t. 1875.) Bark 
reddish brown in colour. Leaves oblong, broader towards the upper 
extremity, and narrowed downwards, of a somewhat glaucous and 
yellowish green, the latter colour prevailing most. while they are young. 
Flowers white, and scentless; produced in May and June. Lobes of 
