OCTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Daphne. 489 
DAPH'NE.* * Calyx generally none : Bloss. one petal, regular, 
four-cleft, funnel-shaped : Drupa like a berry, one-celled, 
superior, (one-seeded. E.) 
D. meze'reum. Flowers sessile, naked, on the stem, mostly three 
together: leaves spear-shaped, deciduous. 
(E. Bot. 1381. E.)— FI. Dan. 268— Sheldr. 62— Ludw. 63— Blackw. 582— 
Kniph. 1— Woodv. 23— Fuchs. 22T— J. B. i. 566— Dod. 364. 2— Lob. Obs. 
199. 4— Ger. Em. 1402. 2—Park. 202. 3. 
(Stem bushy, four or five feet high, with tough, alternate, pliant branches; 
leafy while young. Leaves stalked, smooth, two inches long, appearing 
after the Jlowers, which are highly fragrant. Berries scarlet, varying to 
yellow or orange. Sm. E.) The terminal buds produce leaves; the 
lateral buds flowers; which open very early in the spring, often in win¬ 
ter ; and are so thick set as entirely to hide the branches. Their colour 
a beautiful red. Linn. (Bloss. sometimes white. E.) 
Mezereon. Spurge Olive. Dwarf Bay. Woods near Andover. Mr. 
Woodward. Needwood Forest. Mr. Pitt. (Matlock, Chee Tor. Mr. 
Coke. In divers parts of Cranbourne Chase. Pulteney. In Selborne 
Hanger, among the shrubs at the south end above the cottages. White. 
(Naturalized among the Tunstall hills, south of Sunderland. Mr. Winch. 
Eastham and Stanford, Worcestershire. Rev. E. Whitehead. Witch- 
wood Forest, Oxon. Mr. J. Wheeler, in Purt. Stream side in the dingle 
above Ebworth fish ponds, Painswick, but rare. Mr. O. Roberts. Mr. 
Woodward informs me that this plant is no longer to be found near 
Laxfield. E.) S. Feb.—March.t 
- <f thousaud tints 
Which Flora, dress’d in all her pride of bloom, 
i Can scarcely equal.” 
Yet, as in the vernal chorus of the grove, the rook, the jay, the daw, discordant in 
themselves, together blend in one harmonious whole, so the more sombre hues advanta¬ 
geously combine to depict the declining year. And, to those who love to moralize on the 
changing forms of material existence, the sacred leaves falling around us, or strewed in 
myriads beneath our feet, would offer in their desolation a salutary admonition to the sons 
of mortality: for so, indeed, do the pleasures and pursuits of this transitory world change 
their gay complexion in the autumn of our years : and thus, do even youth, beauty, and 
fortune, when the appointed season shall arrive, waste and wither like a perishing leaf. 
Moreover, these silent, but impressive monitors, would lead us to foresee, and, timely to 
prepare for that storm which is speedily to sweep the strongest from every fair and flourish¬ 
ing prospect on earth, as the autumnal blast scatters the withered leaves: thus powerfully 
enforcing the necessity of resting our better hopes on that Tree of Life, 
(t Which alone, for ever vernal, 
Bears a leaf that shall not fade.” E.) 
* (So named after the nymph, beloved of Apollo, (the history of whose metamorphosis 
may be read in Ovid), and in compliment to certain species which resemble the bay. E.) 
t (** Nature, whose works never cease to excite our admiration,” observes Phillips, 
“ astonishes us by the wonders contained in the buds of this plant, where not only the 
flowers, but the parts of fructification may be distinctly seen the year before they unfold 
themselves.” Mezereon, clustered with crimson blossoms, is rendered most ornamental in 
the shrubbery during the severest season. 
“ Though leafless, well attir’d and thick beset 
With blushing wreaths, investing every spray.” 
Nor is its agreeable scent unacceptable at a time when few flowers are to be gathered. 
