686 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM. 
in terminal small umbels, that are upon 
conspicuous footstalks and smooth. An- 
thers unequally 4-celled. Sexes polyga- 
mous, (Nutt.) A deciduous shrub, with p 
the branches flexuous, grey, smooth, and & 
so remarkably divaricated as to give a cha- 
racteristic appearance to the ponds which 
they border. Virginia to Florida, in sandy 
swamps, and on the margins of lagoons, 
Height 8 ft. to 12 ft. Introduced in 1759. 
Flowers yellow ; April and May. Berries 
globose, scarlet ; rarely seen in England. 1336. L. geniculata. 
Orpver LX. THYMELA CEA. 
OrD. Cuak. Perianth tubular, coloured, 4—5-cleft, often furnished with scales 
in the throat. Stamens usually 8, sometimes 4, rarely 2, inserted in the throat 
of the perianth. Ovarium superior, l-seeded. Stigma undivided. Fruit 
nucamentaceous or drupaceous. Albumen thin, fleshy, or none. (G. Don.) 
Leaves simple, alternate, exstipulate, deciduous or evergreen; entire, 
coriaceous. lowers terminal or axillary, showy, fragrant.—Shrubs or sub- 
shrubs ; natives of Europe, Asia, and America; propagated by seeds, layers, 
or grafting. The genera are two, which are thus contradistinguished : — 
Ds'pune L. Calyx 4-parted. Stigma capitate. Fruit pulpy. 
Di‘rca L. Calyx 4-toothed. Stigma pointed. Fruit dry. 
Genus I. 
AAR 
DA‘PHNE L. Tue Dapune. Lin. Syst. Octandria Monogfnia. 
Identification. Lin. Gen,, 192. ; Eng. Flora, 2. p. 228. 
iSYrOnU Ene. Thymele’a Tourn. Inst. t. 366., Gerin. t. 39.; Daphne, Fr.; Seidelbast, Ger. ; 
afne, Ital. 
Derivation. Daphné is considered by some botanists to have been the Greek name of the Auscus 
racemdsus, or Alexandrian laurel, into which it is fabled that Daphne was changed. “ Why the 
name has been applied to the shrubs now called Daphne, it is not easy to say.” (Lindl. Bot. Reg., 
t.1177.) It is stated in Rees’s Cyclopedia, under Latrus, that L. ndbilis “is certainly the 
Daphné of Dioscorides, and consequently the classical laurel. It is still called by the same name 
among the modern Greeks ;"’ this is also the popular belief. (See St. Pierre’s E’tudes de la 
Nature, Lempriere’s Class. Dict., &c. &c.) Supposing the Daphné to have been the Latrus 
nobilis, or bay tree, it is easy to account for its being applied to this genus, the D. Mezéreum 
being formerly called the dwarf bay in England ; and nearly all the species retaining the names ot 
laureole and laureola in France and Italy. 
Gen. Char. Calyx inferior, somewhat salver-shaped ; in most, of some other 
colour than that of the leaves, and, from its shape and colour, resembling a 
corolla; segments of its limb 4, deep, ovate, or oblong, imbricate in zstiva- 
tion. Stamens 8, in two rows; the filaments with but a short part distinct 
from the tube of the calyx; the anthers not prominent beyond it. Ovary 
solitary. Style very short. Stigma capitate. Fruit an ovate carpel, pulpy 
externally. Seed 1. ( Willd.) 
Leaves simple, in most alternate; if not alternate, opposite, exstipulate, 
deciduous ; entire. Flowers terminal or axillary, mostly in groups, highly 
fragrant.—Undershrubs, evergreen and deciduous ; natives chiefly of Europe, 
but partly also of the cooler parts of Asia, including Japan and China. 
The odour of some of the species is very agreeable. They are all beautiful, 
‘| i N 
and rather difficult to propagate, except by seeds, or grafting on D, Lauréola 
They thrive best in heath soil. 
