Daphne

Daphne, a genus of Thymelaeacee, all shrubs or small trees, deciduous or evergreen, acrid and with poisonous berries, but often with deliciously fragrant flowers. The deciduous Mezereum (D. Mezereum), well known both for the fragrance of its pink winter flowers and for its medicinal uses, is naturalised in some places of England. The only species certainly a native of England is the Spurge Laurel (D. Laureola), an evergreen shrub, 3 to 4 feet high, with large, leathery, tufted leaves, and greenish-yellow axillary flowers. It grows well under the shade of trees, and flowers in February, while the nearly allied D. pontica, introduced from Asia Minor, flowers a month later. Upon the three species are grafted the rarer or less hardy species. Easily recognised by its trailing and branching habit, with persistent smooth, linear, obtuse, mucronate (box-tipped) leaves, and its fragrant profusion of terminal flowers in early spring, D. Cneorum is the best of all species for small gardens; while D. alpina, with its varieties Dauphin and Verloti, is a pretty deciduous form for rock-work.—D. japonica, from Japan, has lemon-scented leaves. From the bast of some species of Daphne, and nearly allied genera, useful fibre is obtained, and paper is made in different parts of the East, particularly Nepal paper from that of D. cannabina. In Tibet Edgeworthia Gardneri is employed in the same way.