75 



MEZEREON. — MEZEREUM. 



A SPECIES OF DAPHNE. 



Natural order, Vepreculce. Thymelace, Juss. 

 A genus of the Octandria Monogynia class. 



" See Nature hastes her earliest wreath to bring 

 With all the incense of the breathing spring." 



Pope. 



" Mezereon too, 



Though leafless, well attired, and thick beset 

 With blushing wreaths, investing every spray." 



Cowper. 



This pretty shrub, which decks its branches 

 with garnet-coloured petals so amply as to 

 hide its dead-looking wood, and often so 

 early that its murrey flowers shine above a 

 bed of snow, has been made in floral lan- 

 guage to express a desire to please, whilst 

 others make it the emblem of coquetry, com- 

 paring it to a nymph, who in the midst of 

 winter seeks admiration in her summer 

 robes. 



As our admiration is demanded in the 

 saloon by the well-dressed coquette, so is our 

 notice attracted in the shrubbery by this 



