THYMELEACE^E 253 



DAPHNE L. 



Shrubs with pink, white, or green fragrant flowers, and often 

 thick evergreen leaves. Perianth tubular, 4-lobed, petaloid. 

 About 80 species inhabiting Europe, Asia, and Africa. 



Daphne alpina L. 



A small shrub. Leaves lanceolate or obovate, spathulate, 

 downy, ultimately glabrous, deciduous. Flowers terminal, crowded, 

 sessile, woolly, appearing at same time as leaves, fragrant. Perianth 

 white, segments lanceolate, acuminate, about one-third shorter 

 than the perianth-tube. 



Alpine and sub-alpine rocks, descending to the plains ; local. 

 May to July. 



Distribution. Carpathians, Eastern, Central, and Western Alps ; 

 Jura, Cevennes, Pyrenees ; mountains of the Var. 



Daphne Blagayana Freyer. 



An evergreen creeping shrub with coriaceous leaves and very 

 fragrant yellowish white flowers. Stem ascending, usually simple. 

 Leaves obovate-lanceolate, obtuse, glabrous. Flowers in terminal 

 clusters. Tube of perianth slightly hairy on the outside, longer 

 than the oval segments of the perianth-limb. 



Bushy places at about 5000 feet ; very rare. April, May. 



Distribution. Carinthia, Styria, and Carniola. 



Daphne Cneorum L. 



A small under-shrub 6-18 inches high, with spreading reddish 

 brown branches, downy and very leafy at the top. Leaves glabrous, 

 leathery, persistent, small, oblong or linear-spathulate, sessile, 

 i-nerved. Flowers rose-coloured, very scented, sub-sessile, 6-12 

 inches, terminal heads. Perianth-lobes oval or lanceolate, tube long. 

 Berry ovoid, yellow-orange. 



Dry, stony places from the plains up to 5000 feet. April to 

 August. The rose-coloured D. striata is more Alpine. 



Distribution. Southern Switzerland (Tessin), S. and S.W. France, 

 Eastern Alps, Central Europe. 



Daphne Mezereum L. Mezereon. 



A stiff, glabrous shrub 1-3 feet high with the branches ending 

 in a tuft of lanceolate leaves about 2^ inches long. The flowers 

 appear before the leaves, and are light purple and sweet-scented. 

 Perianth- tube slightly hairy. Berries red, as large as peas. 



Mountain woods and stony pastures, sometimes seen at 7000 and 

 even 8000 feet in the Alps. Flowers in spring. 



Distribution, Nearly all Europe, to the Arctic regions, British, 



