£6 ENGLISH BOTANY. 
and is very slightly painful, while producing most of the good effects that follow the 
application of the cantharides plaister. The berries are used in Germany and Siberia 
as a cathartic, but are unsafe and dangerous in unpractised hands, According to 
Linneus, they are used in Sweden to poison wolves and foxes. The Russian and 
Tartar women employ them as a cosmetic, to give their skin a rosy appearance—a 
dangerous practice if often repeated. When the berries have been accidentally eaten 
by children or others, the best remedies are oil, fresh butter, linseed tea, or milk, or 
some kind of emollient to allay the violence of the inflammation. The branches of 
the Mezereon afford a yellow die. It is of very easy culture. It is generally propa- 
gated by seeds, which, if suffered to dry before they are sown, will remain two years 
in the soil, but which, if sown in the autumn immediately after gathering them, gene- 
rally come up the following spring. The best time for transplanting this shrub is in 
October, as it begins to vegetate soon after Christmas. 
SPECIES L—DAPHNE LAUREOLA. Lim. 
Prare MCCXLVIL. 
Reich. Fl. Germ. et Helv. Vol. XI. Tab. DLV. Fig. 1179. 
Billot, Fl. Gall. et Germ. Exsice. No. 448. 
Stem erect, branched or nearly simple. Leaves oblanceolate, coria- 
ceous, evergreen. Flowers in small shortly-stalked racemose clusters 
from the axils of the leaves of the rosette at the apex of the stem and 
branches. Tube of the perianth glabrous externally; segments oval- 
lanceolate, about half as long as the tube, which, however, is longer in 
proportion to the limb in the male than in the perfect flowers. Drupe 
ovoid, black. 
In woods and thickets, in clay and chalky soils. Rather rare or 
local, but widely distributed in England. Very rare in Scotland, and 
having very slender claims to be considered native in that country, 
being only found in ornamental woods. 
England [Scotland]. Shrub. Early Spring. 
Stem 1 to 3 feet high, or rarely more, sparingly branched, with the 
branches ascending or erect, clothed with yellowish grey bark, bare of 
leaves except in the upper part. Leaves 2 to 5 inches long, very thick 
in texture, subpetiolate, acute. Clusters numerous, on short stalks, 
with 2 or 3 subherbaceous deciduous bracts. Flowers drooping, 
fragrant, 3 to 8 in each cyme, subracemose, some of the flowers male, 
others perfect. Rarely clusters are produced some distance down the 
stem, as well as at the apex. As the stem or branch elongates by 
the time the berries are ripe, they are left far below the apex of the 
branch. Perianth nearly } inch long, } inch across, pale yellowish 
green. Drupe } inch long, pointed as in D. Mezereum, greenish black, 
very shortly stalked. Plant green, the leaves shining above, paler 
beneath, glabrous. 
