434 



DAP 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



DAP 



nd will live through the winter, in England in the open air 

 provided they are placed in a dry soil and a warm situation. 

 They should be planted on a very warm dry border, where, 

 if there be a foundation of lime- rubbish or chalk under the 

 upper surface of the ground, the plants will thrive better, and 

 continue much longer, than in better ground ; and all the 

 culture they require, is to keep the place clear from weeds, 

 for the less the ground is stirred near the roots, the better the 

 plants will thrive ; for they grow naturally on poor shallow 

 land, and out of crevices in rocks, and therefore the nearer 

 the soil approaches to this, the more likely the plants are to 

 succeed. 



3. Daphne Pubescens. Flowers sessile, aggregate ; leaves 

 lanceolate-linear; stem pubescent, simple; leaves alternate, 

 remote, almost naked, annual, submucronate ; flowers axil- 

 lary, narrow, five, or fewer, with a filiform pubescent tube, 

 shorter than the leaves. Found by Jacquin in Austria. 



4. Daphne Villosa. Flowers sessile, solitary ; leaves lance- 

 olate, flat, ciliate, hairy, crowded. This is a shrub with 

 alternate branches ; leaves like those of Knotgrass, scarcely 

 petioled, with white remote hairs on both sides, fewer on the 

 upper surface, and more towards the edges ; in the axils are 

 very many rudiments of branchlets, whence it is as it were 

 verticilled ; flowers narrow, small, shorter than the leaves. 

 Observed by Alstroemer in Spain and Portugal. 



5. Daphne Tartonraira; Silvery-leaved Daphne or Tar- 

 tonraira. Flowers sessile, aggregate, lateral, imbricate with 

 scales at the base ; leaves obovate, nerved, silky. This is 

 a long shrubby plant, which sends out several weak stalks 

 from the root, about a foot long, and spreading about irre- 

 gularly ; these seldom become woody in England, but are 

 tough and stringy, covered with a light bark ; the leaves 

 are small, very soft, white, and shining like satin, and sit 

 pretty close to the stalks ; between these, white flowers 

 come out in thick clusters ; they are commonly two or three 

 together, very seldom solitary, bell-shaped, silky on the out- 

 side, but yellowish within, imbricated at the base with four 

 or more ovate keeled scales. Native of the south of France. 

 See the second species. 



6. Daphne Alpina ; Alpine Daphne. Flowers sessile, 

 aggregate, leaves lanceolate, somewhat obtuse, tomentose 

 underneath. This species rises about three feet high ; the 

 flowers come out in clusters from the sides of the branches 

 early in the spring, and are succeeded by small roundish ber- 

 ries, which turn red when ripe; the root fixes itself deeply 

 in the crevices of the rocks ; the little stems are shrubby and 

 upright, scarcely a palm in height, as it were brachiate, leafy, 

 and flowering at the top ; leaves lanceolate or obovate, usu- 

 ally emarginate hoary with hairs when viewed with a glass, 

 as are also the calices and fruits ; the younger leaves appear 

 hirsute to the naked eye, but afterwards appear bald, unless 

 to the magnifier. Native of the south of France, and of the 

 mountains uear Geneva, Austria, and Italy. This sort is a 

 beautiful sweet shrub, and deserves a place in gardens as much 

 as any of those we cultivate for ornament. Both this and the 

 eleventh species may have a cooler situation than the second 

 species ; if these be sown where they can only have the morn- 

 ing sun, they will thrive better than in a warmersituation.and 

 the ground near the roots of these should not be disturbed ; 

 therefore in the choice of the situation, there should be regard 

 had to this, not to sow them near other plants which may 

 require transplanting, or to have the ground dug and loosened. 

 The seeds of these plants coming from distant countries, rarely 

 arrive here time enough to sow in autumn ; so that when they 

 are sown in the spring, the plants do not appear till the 

 succeeding spring ; and have sometimes remained even till 



a second spring in the ground : but as this may be too long 

 for many people to leave the ground undisturbed, they had 

 better put the seeds into small pots of earth, and bury them 

 in the ground the first summer, and take them up in autumn, 

 and sow them where they are to stand ; by this method the 

 seeds will be forwarded so as to vegetate in the following 

 spring. They are both very difficult to keep in gardens. 

 because they will not bear to be transplanted : they are as 

 hardy as the common Mezereon, and are not in danger of 

 being hurt by the frost in England, but have always died 

 upon being removed, though they have been transplanted 

 at different seasons and with the greatest care ; and even 

 when plants of all siies, from the youngest seedling to the 

 oldest plants have been tried. Those therefore who desire 

 to have these plants in their gardens, must procure their seeds 

 from the countries where they naturally grow, which should 

 be sown as soon as they arrive in the place where they are 

 designed to remain. 



7- Daphne Laureola ; Spurge-Laurel. Racemes axillary, 

 five flowered ; leaves lanceolate smooth. This is a low ever- 

 green shrub, rising with several stalks to the height of two or 

 three feet, dividing at top into several branches : the leaves 

 come out irregularly on every side, sit pretty close to the 

 branches, are thick, smooth, and of a lucid green ; among 

 these, towards the upper part of the stalks, come out the 

 flowers in small clusters, they are of a yellowish green, and 

 appear soon after Christmas, if the season be not very severe ; 

 they are succeeded by oval berries, which are green till June, . 

 when they ripen, turn black, and soon afterwards fall off. 

 The flowers are of a dull colour, with an unpleasant scent, 

 and they appear at a gloomy season. It is a native of Bri- 

 tain, France, Switzerland, Austria, and Carniola. Gerarde 

 did not know that it grows wild in England, although it is 

 common enough in our woods and hedges ; and, notwith- 

 standing Linneus's censure, the Spurge-Laurel is a shrub of 

 some value, on account of the lucid green of its leaves, which 

 continuing all the year, render it ornamental in winter, but 

 particularly because it flourishes under trees, and is therefore 

 very proper to fill up spaces in plantations. Very happy 

 effects have been produced by the use of this plant in rheu- 

 matic fevers ; it is a rough purgative, and an efficacious 

 medicine in worm -cases, but requires some caution in the 

 administration, and might be productive of dangerous conse- 

 quences in unskilful hands. The whole plant has the same 

 qualities, but the bark of the root appears to be the strongest, 

 and should never be given in a dose of more than ten grains. 

 An infusion of the leaves is a good medicine for those of 

 robust constitutions, who are subject to dropsical complaints; 

 it operates by vomit and stool, but so roughly that few con- 

 stitutions can bear it; dried and reduced to powder, the lc 

 are useful in the venereal disease. Some other species of 

 this genus possess nearly similar powers with the Mezereon 

 and Spurge-Laurel, and are used in similar cases ; but, like 

 the former, require caution in their use, and should not be 

 trusted to inexperienced hands. The plants may be c 

 obtained from the woods, and is propagated by seeds, layers, 

 or cuttings. 



8. Daphne Pontica. Peduncles two-flowered ; leaves lan- 

 ceolate-ovate ; stem about two feet high, branched sometimes 

 from the very bottom, about three lines in thickness, very | 

 pliable, covered with a grey bark ; leaves towards the top 

 without order, of the figure and consistence of those of the 

 Lemon, the largest four inches long, and two wide, pointed 

 at each end, smooth, bright green, and shining, having a 

 thick mid-rib underneath. Attheendof April, young shoots, 

 terminated by new leaves, push from the extremities of the 



