[Greek, laurel] [Greek, laurel]

Lorin I. Nevling Jr.

Kerry Barringer

Shrubs, deciduous or evergreen, to 1.5 m. Stems erect, procumbent, or prostrate, branched, not jointed, thick, glabrous or glabrescent. Leaves clustered distally, sessile or subsessile; blade obovate or oblong to lanceolate, surfaces glabrous or hairy. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, capitate, fasciculate, or racemose, flowers sessile [petiolate]; bracts 0. Flowers: hypanthium tubular to narrowly funnelform; calyx 4-lobed, lobes spreading or slightly reflexed; petals absent; stamens 8, usually included, in distal 1/2 of tube; style included, short or absent; stigma capitate. Fruits drupaceous, yellow, red, or black, fleshy, hypanthium not persistent.

Species 70 (2 in the flora): introduced; s, c Europe, n Africa, Asia; temperate and subtropical, widely cultivated in temperate areas.

SELECTED REFERENCES Brickell C. D. and B. Mathew. 1976. Daphne: The Genus in the Wild and in Cultivation. Woking. Halda, J. J. 2001. The Genus Daphne. Dobré.

Lower Taxa

• Daphne laureola Linnaeus
• Daphne mezereum Linnaeus