722 



THE DAPHNE FAMILY. 



LXII. THE DAPHNE FAMILY. THYMELEACEiE. 



A family limited in Britain to the single genus Daphne. The 

 exotic genera associated with it differ chiefly in the number of 

 the stamens and in the number and form of the divisions of the 

 perianth, or in the consistence of the fruit. 



The species are rather numerous in southern Africa and Australia, 

 including among the latter the Pimeleas of our greenhouses, with a 

 few from the tropics or the northern hemisphere. 



I. DAPHNE. DAPHNE. 



Shrubs, or, in some exotic species, trees, with alternate or rarely 

 opposite entire leaves, and no stipules ; the flowers either coloured or 

 sometimes green, either lateral, or, in exotic species, terminal. Perianth 

 inferior, deciduous, with a distinct tube and a spreading 4-cleft limb. 

 Stamens 8, inserted in the top of the tube. Ovary free within the 

 tube, 1 -celled, with a single pendulous ovule. Style exceedingly short, 

 with a capitate stigma. Fruit a berry or drupe, the endocarp forming 

 a slightly crustaceous, 1-seeded stone. 



A considerable genus, widely spread over the northern hemisphere, 

 with a few species extending into the tropics. 



Leaves deciduous. Flower3 purple, below the leaves ... 1. Mezereon D. 

 Leaves evergreen. Flowers green, axillary 2. Spurge D. 



Several exotic species are cultivated for the beauty or the perfume 

 of their flowers, especially the D. odora, D. pontica, D. cneorum, etc. 



1. Mezereon Daphne. Daphne Mezereum, Linn. (Fig. 872.) 

 (Eng. Bot. t. 1381. Mezereon.) 



An erect, glabrous shrub, of 1 to 3 feet, 

 with few, erect branches, each termina- 

 ted by a tuft or shoot of narrow-oblong 

 or lanceolate, deciduous leaves, about 2 

 or 3 inches long. Before these leaves 

 are fully out, the flowers appear in 

 clusters of 2 or 3 along the preceding 

 year's shoot : they are purple and sweet- 

 scented. Perianth- tube 3 or 4 lines long, 

 and slightly hairy, the lobes rather 

 shorter. Berries red. 



In woods, chiefly in hilly districts, 

 spread over nearly the whole of Europe 

 and Russian Asia to the Arctic regions. 

 In Britain, however, believed to be truly 

 wild only in some of the southern coun- 

 Fig. 872. ties of England. Fl. early spring. 



