70 



PIELD AND WOODLAND PLANTS 



see the Spurge Laurel [Daphne Lmireola) in flower in woods and 

 copses. This is an erect, smooth shrub, from two to four feet 



high, with a few 

 erect branches 

 bearing at their 

 summits crowded 

 clusters of thick, 

 glossy, narrow, 

 evergreen leaves. 

 Its flowers, of a 

 yellowish green 

 colour, are in 

 drooping, axillary 

 clusters among 

 the leaves. 

 They have a tubu- 

 lar, inferior peri- 

 anth, with four 

 spreading lobes ; 

 eight stamens in- 

 serted in the top 

 of the tube ; and 

 a free ovary of 

 one cell, contain- 

 ing a single ovule. 

 The perianth falls 

 early ; and the 

 ovary afterwards 

 Ijecomes a berry- 

 like fruit with a 

 single stone. 



Another similar shrub, known as the Mezereon [Daphne 

 Mezereum), is found in similar situations, and flowers at the same 

 time, but it may be known by its deciduous leaves, and by its 

 pale red flowers arranged in threes on the side of the stem. 

 These two species are the only British representatives of the order 

 Thymekiceoi. 



Two species of Elm are common in our woods and hedgerows. 

 The small-leaved or Common Elm [Ubiiiis ratnpestris), and the Wych 

 Elm ( U. moniana). Both are distinguished by their thick, furrowed, 

 corky bark ; and their rough oval-cordate leaves with unequal 



The Spurge laurel. 



