Daphne L. (1753), in the family Thymelaeaceae, contains around 50 species in Europe and Asia.

Description Shrubs to 2m, with tough, fibrous bark. The leaves are usually alternate, evergreen or deciduous, usually narrow, and neither toothed nor lobed, with a strong midrib, usually grouped towards the ends of the twigs, with an acrid smell and taste. The flowers are generally sweetly scented, tubular at the base, with 4 coloured sepals and no petals. Stamens 8, attached to the inside of the tube in 2 whorls, the anthers on short filaments; carpel 1, style short, with a globular stigma. Pollination is by insects: bees and small moths in the species with green, concealed flowers; butterflies and moths in the species with showy, exposed heads of flowers. The fruits are juicy, usually ripening red, with 1 seed.

Key Recognition Features The small, 4-lobed, tubular, scented flowers and simple, untoothed leaves.

Evolution and Relationships The family Thymelaeaceae is mainly tropical; it is considered close to Euphorbiaceae and the Flacourtiaceae, with Daphne the largest temperate genus. Elaeagnus L. is superficially very similar in flower, with a 4-lobed, tubular calyx, but that has 4 stamens.

Ecology and Geography On rocks and screes, in woods, often on limestone. Seventeen species are found in Europe, and the genus extends through the mountains of Asia to China, and to Japan, where 4 species are native. One species is found in Kamtchatka, but none reached America. Dirca L., the leatherwood, is the only member of the family found in North America.

Comment Many species are grown for their scented flowers in winter or early spring. Paper is made from the bark fibres of some species in the Himalayas, notably D. papyracea Wall. ex Steud. and D. bholua Buch.-Ham., which is also one of the best ornamentals. Daphne genkwa Sieb. & Zucc., from northern China, unusual in its opposite leaves and almost blue flowers, is used in Chinese medicine to induce abortion.

Photographs:
Daphne bholua flowers
Daphne mezereum berries