DAPH'NE GNI'DIUM. 



FLAX-LJEAVED DAPHNE. 



Class. Order. 



OCTANDRIA. DIGYNIA. 



Natural Order. 



THYMEL^^E. 



No. 72. 



As some of this genus bear a resemblance to the 

 laurel, Linneus distinguished it by the name Daphne, 

 in allusion to the fabled transformation of that nymph 

 into such shrub. This species of Daphne retains 

 the trivial name Gnidium, from the probability of its 

 being the true GN i D I o N of the Greeks ; who named 

 it after Gnidus, a promontory and town in Asia 

 Minor, where Venus had her temple. 



Though the subjects of the genus Daphne are 

 principally natives of Europe, yet, from their gene- 

 ral habits, they class with that beautiful tribe, the 

 evergreen American plants. Many of the most 

 beautiful of these American shrubs are the under- 

 wood of those extensive woodlands possessed by that 

 quarter of our globe. In such situations, shaded in 

 the summer from the mid-day sun, and in the win- 

 ter, screened from cutting winds, and further pro- 

 tected and manured by the fallen leaves of the forest 

 trees, they grow with a luxuriance that we can 

 scarcely hope to witness in our gardens. 



The Daphne Gnidium is chiefly propagated by 

 being grafted on the Daphne laureola, or Spurge 

 Laurel, and should be planted in sandy peat. 

 Hort. Kew. 2, v. 2, 410. 



