DAPHNE 467 



is usually resorted to, and generally seedlings of Mezereum for the 

 deciduous ones and seedlings of Laureola for the evergreen ones are 

 employed. It has, however, to be admitted that many of the Daphnes 

 are still untamed wildings. In some places a few species find the 

 conditions so suitable that they thrive without any special care. But I 

 know of no place where the cultivation of all the Daphnes, or even the 

 hardier ones, has been satisfactorily achieved. It is quite possible also 

 that, like many shrubs that flower with the same profusion, they are 

 naturally short-lived. 



D. ALPINA, Linnceus. 



A dwarf, deciduous shrub, 6 to 18 ins. high, with short, erect, downy twigs. 

 Leaves oblanceolate, \ to if ins. long, to \ in. wide ; often crowded towards 

 the end of the shoot, grey-green, downy on both sides. Flowers white, 

 fragrant, produced during May and June in terminal clusters of six to ten, the 

 cylindrical, slender tube \ in. long, downy outside ; the four lobes lanceolate, 

 pointed ; fruit yellowish red. 



Native of the European Alps ; introduced in 1759. Suitable for the rock 

 garden, especially in association with limestone, on which formation it is 

 always found. A neat plant of no great beauty, but pleasing for its fragrance. 



D. ALTAIC A, Pallas 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 1875.) 



A low, deciduous shrub with smooth shoots and leaves, the latter oblan- 

 ceolate or narrowly oblong, pointed, i^ to 2\ ins. long, to in. wide, smooth. 

 Flowers only slightly scented, usually about five or six in a terminal cluster ; 

 white, \ in. diameter, downy outside ; perianth segments reflexed ; ovary 

 smooth ; fruit red. 



Native of the Altai Mountains ; discovered about 1780. It is closely 

 allied to D. caucasica, but is considered to differ in having a looser, less 

 silky down on the corolla-tube. As represented in cultivation, D. altaica has 

 larger, more pointed leaves, fewer flowers on an average in the cluster, and 

 does not produce a crowd of short flowering twigs from the previous year's 

 shoot, as does D. caucasica. The two, however, are probably geographical 

 forms of the one species, to which the shrub grown as D. SOPHIA also belongs. 

 Distinguished from D. alpina by its smooth leaves. 



D. BLAGAYAXA, Freyer. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 7579 ; Garden, 1878, t. 143.) 



A dwarf, evergreen shrub of spreading habit, rarely more than I ft. high. 

 Leaves stalkless, aggregated in a tuft at the end of the twig, narrowly obovate, 

 tapered towards the base, rounded at the apex ; I to if ins. long, \ to | in. 

 wide ; smooth on both surfaces. Flowers creamy white, very fragrant, 

 produced in March and April, crowded in a head of twenty to thirty blossoms 

 at the end of the twig and about 2 ins. across, consisting of several umbels, 

 subtended by thin, greenish, silky bracts. Flowers \ in. diameter ; the lobes 

 broadly ovate, J in. long ; the tube f to f in. long, slenderly cylindrical, slightly 

 silky. Fruit pinkish white, rarely seen in cultivation. 



Native of the mountains of E. Europe, discovered by Count Blagay in 

 1837 ; introduced about 1875. This beautiful and sweet-scented Daphne has 

 perhaps nowhere been so successfully cultivated as in the Glasnevin Botanic 



