MKZKKRON. 127 



The Mezereon is an old inhabitant of the shrubbery, and is 

 much esteemed for the precocity, beauty, and fragrance of its 

 flowers, and the brilliancy of its fruit. It thrives well in loamy 

 soil, and will grow under the shade and drip of other trees. 



Qualities and general Uses. — A fine yellow dye may be 

 procured from the branches of this plant. The bark, especially 

 that of the root, may be made into a kind of greyish paper, also 

 into thread and cordage. Some other species of Daphne may 

 be used for similar purposes, and in Jamaica a plant is found 

 called the Lace-Bark Tree, (Lagetta lintearia,) the inner bark 

 of which consists of several layers, and may be extended so as 

 to form ruffles, or may be pulled out into a silky web, three or 

 four feet wide, and of considerable length. From the ripe fruit 

 of Mezereon a fine red-lake colour may be prepared for 

 painters. Pallas * states that the Russian women use these 

 berries to rub their cheeks with, thereby producing an inflam- 

 matory redness which they consider beautiful, and Falksf 

 observed the same practice among the Tartar women. 



Every part of the plant is powerfully- acrid and caustic. The 

 flowers have a very sweet fragrance, resembling that of almond 

 blossoms and violets ; two or three of them chewed have 

 merely an herbaceous flavour at first, but in a short time, the 

 tip of the tongue is affected with an acrid burning taste, com- 

 bined with a degree of numbness like that produced by Aconite ; 

 this sensation soon extends to the throat and fauces, and con- 

 tinues for several hours, although not a particle of the substance 

 be swallowed. The nut of the drupe, commonly called the 

 berry, has still more energetic qualities ; likewise the bark, which 

 is the part used in medicine J. The inner bark, when applied 

 to the skin, produces inflammation, vesication, and a copious 

 discharge of serum. It retains its acrimony when dried, and 

 yields its virtues both to water and vinegar. " By digest- 

 ing the bark in alcohol, then evaporating the liquid to 

 separate the resin, diluting the residual fluid with water, fil- 

 tering, and adding acetate of lead, Vauquelin obtained a 



* Reisen. vol. i. p. 226. 



f Topogr. Keimtniss des Ituss. Reichs. vol. ii. p. 169. 



$ The bark is dug up for use in autumn, after the leaves have fallen. 

 When dried it has a wrinkled epidermis, and the inner bark has a white 

 cottony appearance. 



