THE DAPHNE FAMILY 
[ORDER LXVI. THYMELEACEAE] 
PERIANTH of 4 or 5 lobes united into a 
tube at the base, tubular, funnel-shaped, or 
salver-shaped, some of the foreign species, 
as for instance the Gnidias, having little 
scales in the mouth of the tube, inserted 
below the seedcase (inferior). 
STAMENS usually 8 or io, in 2 rows, 
rarely 4 or 2, inserted on the perianth-tube. 
PISTIL of 1 CARPEL consisting of a 
1 -celled seedcase, 1 style, and an un- 
divided stigma. 
FRUIT a berry-like drupe with a 1 -seeded 
stone, or a 1 -seeded nut. 
FLOWERS generally perfect, in clusters in 
the axils of the leaves, or in terminal heads 
or spikes, or rarely solitary, with bracts 
below each flower. 
STEM woody. 
LEAVES undivided (simple) and entire, 
without stipules. 
DISTINGUISHED from the Birthwort and 
Sandalwood Families by the perianth-tube 
being free from the seedcase, in the stamens 
often being in 2 rows, and in the berry-like 
fruit with I seed. 
T HIS family is only represented in the British Isles by two species of the genus Daphne. 
It is a small order of shrubs or small trees or very rarely herbs, found principally in 
southern Africa and Australia and tropical countries. 
Many foreign species are cultivated in gardens and greenhouses for the delicious perfume of 
their flowers, such as the trailing Daphne Cneorum, Daphne japonica, Daphne indicata, and other 
species of Daphne, Gnidias, Struthiolas, and Pimeleas. 
Most of these plants are acrid and some extremely poisonous. In the British species the 
berries, though eaten by birds, are fatal to man ; and the bark, if applied to the skin, raises a blister. 
The bark of Daphne and most of the members of the order is particularly tough and is much 
employed in the manufacture of rope, paper, and lace. In Jamaica a wonderful tree is found — 
the Lace-bark Tree (Lage'tta lintearia) — whose bark yields a natural lace ; the thin layers of the 
inner bark are so fine and white and the fibre so strong that when damped they can be pulled 
out into all sorts of lozenge patterns. A set of ruffles was cut from it and was sent as 
a present to Charles II. 
Both fruit and bark of Daphne Mezereum contain a powerful poison and a decoction is still 
recognised in the British Pharmacopoeia. 
DAPHNE. Linn. — Flowers often fragrant, with bracts at the base, in terminal or side 
(lateral) clusters. Perianth of 4 lobes united into a tube at the base, and spreading salver- 
shaped into the 4 lobes, inserted below the seedcase (inferior) ; stamens 8, in 2 rows, included and 
inserted in the upper part of the perianth-tube ; carpel 1, composed of a seedcase containing 
1 hanging embryo-seed and a very short style crowned with a somewhat tufted stigma ; fruit 
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