227 DAPHNE GNIDIUM 



different in this respect to the early-flowering British species 

 already described ; the leaves are scarcely evergreen, but persist 

 for some time on the plant. 



It is occasionally cultivated in botanic gardens here, and 

 appears to have been grown by Gerard in 1597 (see his Herball, 

 p. 1217). 



Meisner, in DO. Prod., xiv, p. 538 ; Gren. & Godr., Fl. France, 

 iii, p. 60 ; Willk. & Lange, Prod. FL Hisp., i, p. 298. 



Official Part and Name. MEZEEEUM ; the bark of Daphne 

 Mezereum, and of Daphne Gnidium (U. S. P.). It is not official 

 in the British Pharmacopoeia, or the Pharmacopoeia of India, the 

 bark of D. Laureola being in these volumes substituted for it. 



In France the bark of D. Gnidium is also official, and under 

 the name of Ecorce de Garou is used indiscriminately with that of 

 D. Mezereum. The barks of D. alpina, of D. Gneorum, and of 

 D. Laureola are also employed in France and Germany for the 

 same purposes as those barks. 



Collection, General Characters, and Composition. The bark 

 should be collected in the winter months, as already noticed with 

 that of D. Mezereum and D. Laureola. The same remarks also 

 apply in this plant as with them in reference to the comparative 

 activity of the stem-bark and root-bark ; the former is, however, 

 that which is commonly in use. Squire, speaking generally of the 

 species of Daphne, says, " the bark of the root is the most efficacious 

 part of this class of plants ; next in order the bark of the stems, 

 the leaves, the woody parts of the stems and roots, and, lastly, 

 the flowers." 



In its general characters this kind of mezereon bark closely 

 resembles the barks of D. Mezereum and D. Laureola already 

 described under these respective heads; but it is commonly 

 of a somewhat darker colour, and that of the younger stems and 

 branches is marked with numerous, closely set, somewhat spirally 

 arranged, whitish, leaf-scars. When the leaves are present, which 

 is sometimes the case in the bark of commerce, the drug is 

 readily distinguished, as these are very different in shape to those 



