686 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 



in terminal small umbels, that are upon 

 conspicuous footstalks and smooth. An- 

 thers unequally 4-celled. Sexes polyga- 

 mous. (Nutt.) A deciduous shrub, with 

 the branches flexuous, grey, smooth, and 

 so remarkably divaricated as to give a cha- 

 racteristic appearance to the ponds which 

 they border. Virginia to Florida, in sandy 

 swamps, and on the margins of lagoons. 

 Height 8ft. to 12ft. Introduced in 1759. 

 Flowers yellow ; April and May. Berries 

 globose, scarlet ; rarely seen in England. 



1336. L. gcniculatd 



ORDER LX. THYMELA'CE^E. 



ORD. CHAR. Perianth tubular, coloured, 4 5-cleft, often furnished with scales 

 in the throat. Stamens usually 8, sometimes 4, rarely 2, inserted in the throat 

 of the perianth. Ovarium superior, 1-seeded. Stigma undivided. Fruit 

 nucamentaceous or drupaceous. Albumen thin, fleshy, or none. (G. Don.) 

 Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous or evergreen ; entire, 

 coriaceous. Flowers terminal or axillary, showy, fragrant. Shrubs or sub- 

 shrubs ; natives of Europe, Asia, and America; propagated by seeds, layers, 

 or grafting. The genera are two, which are thus contradistinguished: 



DA'PHNE L. Calyx 4-parted. Stigma capitate. Fruit pulpy. 

 DI'RCA L. Calyx 4-toothed. Stigma pointed. Fruit dry. 



GENUS I. 



). ; Daphne, Fr. ; Seidelbast, Ger. ; 

 uafne, Ital. 



Derivation. Daphne is considered by some botanists to have been the Greek name of the TZuscus 

 racembsus, or Alexandrian laurel, into which it is fabled that Daphne was changed. " Why the 

 name has been applied to the shrubs now called Daphne, it is not easy to say." (Lindl. Sot. Reg., 

 t. 1177.) It is stated in Rees's Cyclopedia, under .Laurus, that L. nobilis " is certainly the 

 Daphne of Dioscorides, and consequently the classical laurel. It is still called by the same name 

 among the modern Greeks;" this is also the popular belief. (See St. Pierre's E'tudes de la 

 Nature, Lempriere's Class. Diet., &c. &c.) Supposing the Daphne to have been the Z,aurus 

 ndbilis, or bay tree, it is easy to account for its being applied to this genus, the D. Mezereum 

 being formerly called the dwarf bay in England ; and nearly all the species retaining the names 01 

 laureole and laureola in France and Italy. 



Gen. Char. Calyx inferior, somewhat salver-shaped ; in most, of some other 

 colour than that of the leaves, and, from its shape and colour, resembling a 

 corolla ; segments of its limb 4, deep, ovate, or oblong, imbricate in aestiva- 

 tion. Stamens 8, in two rows ; the filaments with but a short part distinct 

 from the tube of the calyx ; the anthers not prominent beyond it. Ovary 

 solitary. Style very short. Stigma capitate. Fruit an ovate carpel, pulp)' 

 externally. Seed I. (Wi/ld.) 



Leaves simple, in most alternate ; if not alternate, opposite, exstipulate, 

 deciduous ; entire. Flowers terminal or axillary, mostly in groups, highly 

 fragrant. Undershrubs, evergreen and deciduous ; natives chiefly of Europe, 

 but partly also of the cooler parts of Asia, including Japan and China. 

 The odour of some of the species is very agreeable. They are all beautiful, 

 and rather difficult to propagate, except by seeds, or grafting on D. Laureola 

 They thrive best in heath soil. 



