SPURGE LAUREL 225 



falling off below. They are lance-shaped, shiny, and smooth, the ter- 

 minal buds being near the leaves, the lateral ones near the flowers. 



The flowers are green (5), drooping, in cymes, axillary, with oblong 

 bracts below, and funnel-shaped. The stamens are inserted on the 

 upper part of the tube. The lobes of the calyx are as long as the 

 tube. The fruit is a berry, which is blue or black, and egg-shaped. 



It is an evergreen shrub, quite suited to the garden or shrubbery, 

 where one may frequently find it. In height it varies from 2-4 ft. 

 Flowers may be found between February and April. 



In Daphne Mezereum the corolla tube is 6 mm. long and 2 mm. 

 wide. The flower is suited to bees with a long proboscis, butterflies, 

 Apis, Anthophora, Osmia, Halictus, Eristalis, Small Tortoise-shell 

 Butterfly (Vanessa urticce). The stigma and anthers ripen together. 

 The honey is secreted at the base of the ovary. An insect rubs its 

 proboscis against the anthers, in 2 whorls of 4 stamens each, in the 

 upper part of the tube, but does not dust it with pollen, which is only 

 slightly sticky, and then touches at a lower level the stigma before 

 it reaches the honey, so that it cross-pollinates it with pollen from a 

 previous and different flower; and its proboscis is not dusted with 

 pollen till it is withdrawn. If insects are absent pollen falls from 

 the anthers upon the stigma. 



The drupe is edible, black in colour, and dispersed largely by birds. 



Spurge Laurel grows on a clayey or sandy soil. 



Daphne, Dioscorides, is from Daphne, the name of a nymph 

 changed by the gods into a bay tree. Laureola, Dodonaeus, is from 

 the Latin, laurns, laurel. 



Dwarf Bay, Fox Poison, Laurel, Copse Laurel, Spurge and Wood 

 Laurel, Sturdy Lowries are the names that have been bestowed 

 upon the Spurge Laurel. 



It is a useful, ornamental shrub, which grows in the shade and 

 drip of trees. It is acrid and highly irritant. The juice causes in- 

 flammation, and has been used for blistering, and the bark and berries 

 for ulcers and sores. The roots have been used for toothache. For 

 irritation it is employed externally. 



ESSENTIAL SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: 



272. Daphne Laureola, L. Evergreen shrub, little branched, 

 leaves smooth, entire, tufted, flowers green, in axillary racemes, berries 

 black. 



