CLASS VIII. ORDER I.] DAPHNE. 565 



branous ribbed tube, the limb of eight oblong lanceolate acute pieces, 

 marked with longitudinal veins, spiral in the bud. Stamens shorter 

 than the limb, inserted into the orifice of the tube, with short awl- 

 shaped filaments and narrow elliptic yellow anthers. Style shorter 

 than the stamens. Stupnas of two-cleft ovate oblong lobes. Capsule 

 ovate, smooth, with a furrow on each side, one celled, two with lateral 

 placenta, formed by the indexed margins of the valves. Seeds very 

 numerous, minute. 



Habitat.— Lmealone districts and gravelly pastures ; not unfre- 

 quent in the Midland and Southern Counties of England, and about 

 Dublin and Kilkenny, Ireland. 



Perennial ; flowering from July to September. 



A pretty gay ornamental plant of our meadows and hilly pastures, 

 possessing bitter tonic properties, in which circumstance, as well as 

 some of its peculiarities of structure, it is nearly allied to the genus 

 Erythrea ; and like them the corolla is spiral in the bud, the tube 

 membranous and persistent, and the limb expanding only in the 

 bright sunshine, the explanation of which circumstance is to be sought 

 for in the difi'erence of the texture between the limb and the tube of 

 the corolla, which are differently acted upon by heat, and especially by 

 the dry or moist state of the atmosphere. 



GENUS IX. DA'PHNE.— Linn. Mezereon and Spurge 



Laurel. 



Nat. Ord. Thyme 'le^. Jess. 



Gen. Char. Perianth single, inferior, four-cleft, deciduous. Style 

 short, terminal. Fruit a one celled single seeded berry. — Name 

 ^aSvn, Daphne ; the Greek name of the Laurel, or Bay tree. 



1. D. Meze'reum, Linn. (Fig. 642.) Common Mezereon. Flowers 

 lateral, sessile, about three together, pubescent, appearing before the 

 lanceolate wedge-shaped smooth leaves. 



English Botany, t. 1381.— English Flora, vol. ii. p. 228.— Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 184. — Lindley, Synopsis, p. 209. 



Root of numerous long pliant branches. Shrub erect, alternately 

 branched with smooth bark and tough pliant branches, forming a bush 

 from three to five feet high. Leaves numerous, scattered, not appear- 

 ing until some time after the flowers, lanceolate, wedge-shaped, on 

 short footstalks, smooth, paler beneath, about two inches long. Floivers 

 appearing early in lateral clusters, of about three together from the 

 axis of the last year's leaves, sessile, surrounded with several ovate 

 bractea. Perianth single, downy externally, especially in the lower 

 part of the tube, the limb of four ovate acute spreading segments, of a 

 crimson colour, often pale rose colour, and sometimes quite white, of 



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