225 DAPHNE MEZEREUM 



sessile, bright red, pulp (epicarp) succulent, lined by a thin green 

 skin (endocarp ?) closely surrounding the seed, and traversed by 

 the orange-coloured raphe. Seed solitary, circular on section, 

 but tapering at each end to a point, with a broad, shallow groove 

 along one side, testa shining, dark purple brown, paler inside ; 

 inner coat very thin, yellow. Embryo large, spherical, with large 

 plane-convex cotyledons, and a small exserted radicle ; no endo- 

 sperm. 



Habitat. The mezereon grows in hilly woods, ascending into 

 sub-alpine districts throughout Europe, and is especially frequent 

 in the central and eastern parts ; in the west it is more scarce, and 

 in England is decidedly rare, being met with chiefly in woods on 

 chalk or limestone in the southern counties ; in many of its 

 localities it is considered to be an escape from gardens. The 

 shrub reaches the arctic regions and extends eastward into Siberia. 



The flowers are very fragrant and appear in March when the 

 leaf -buds are just commencing to expand ; they persist for some 

 time and are succeeded by the handsome scarlet fruit which is 

 ripe in July. By this time the terminal buds have developed into 

 long shoots, and the " berries " appear placed some distance 

 down the stem though the flowers were near its extremity ; the 

 crimson-coloured flower buds for the subsequent year are already 

 present in or rather a little above the axils of the new leaves. 

 There are varieties with white flowers and with yellow fruit. 



By some authors the fruit is described as a drupe, the hard 

 covering of the seed, above called the testa, being regarded as a 

 stone or putamen. 



Hook., 1, Stud. PI., p. 322 ; Syme, E., Bot., viii, p. 84; Watson, 

 Comp. Cyb. Br., p. 305 ; Meisner, in DO. Prod., xiv, p. 530 ; 

 Lindl., Fl. Med., p. 324; Ledebour, Fl. Ross., iii, p. 546. 



Official Part and Names. MEZEEEI CORTEX ; the dried bark of 

 Daphne Mezereum, Linn, or of Daphne Laureola, Linn. (B. P.). The 

 dried bark (Mezereon Bark) of the above plants (I. P.). MEZEREUM ; 

 the bark of Daphne Mezereum, and of Daphne Gnidium (U. S. P.). 



In the London and Edinburgh Pharmacopoeias, the only official 

 Mezereon Bark before the issue of the British Pharmacopoeia in 



