Daphne L.

1. Daphne L. View in CoL 3

Dwarf to medium-sized shrubs, usually with tough, flexible branches; leaves often clustered at the ends of the branches. Flowers hermaphrodite, usually fragrant, in terminal heads or axillary spikes or clusters, rarely in terminal panicles. Hypanthium tubular or narrowly campanulate; sepals and hypanthium petaloid; style terminal. Fruit a drupe, exposed at maturity; exocarp succulent, rarely coriaceous.

Literature: K. Keissler, Bot. Jahrb. 25: 29-124 (1898).

1 All flowers terminal, solitary or in ± sessile heads or clusters 2 Leaves deciduous, not coriaceous 3 Branches decumbent or ascending; leaves hairy at least when young 6. alpina

3 Branches ± erect; leaves glabrous 3. sophia

2 Leaves evergreen, ± coriaceous 4 Flowers solitary or in terminal pairs

5 Leaves 8-11 x 1-5-3 mm, mucronate; flowers usually purple

15. jasminea

5 Leaves 15-18 x 6 mm, not mucronate; flowers white

16. malyana

4Flowers in terminal heads of 3 or more

6 Sepals narrowly triangular, acuminate; inflorescence ebracteate 7. oleoides

6 Sepals ovate or broadly triangular, obtuse or acute; flowers subtended by scarious or leaf-like bracts

7 Flowers creamy-white 8. blagayana 7 Flowers pink or purplish

8 Leaves 6-12 mm wide 9. sericea 8 Leaves 2-6 mm wide

9 Flowers purple, tinged with yellow; leaves ciliate and obscurely denticulate (Islas Baléares) 14. rodriguezii 9 Flowers pink; leaves, entire, not ciliate

10 Young shoots bright coral-red; leaf-margins strongly revolute (Czechoslovakia) 12. arbuscula 10 Young shoots green to brown; leaf-margins seldom revolute

11 Leaves strongly keeled beneath, ± trigonous;

branches short, tortuous 13. petraea 11 Leaves not keeled; branches fairly long, ± straight

12 Hypanthium usually hairy; leaves usually 3-4 times as long as wide; fruit brownish-yellow 10. cneorum

12 Hypanthium glabrous; leaves usually 5-6 times as long as wide; fruit reddish 11. striata 1 Flowers wholly or partly in axillary clusters or racemes, or in terminal panicles

13 Flowers greenish-yellow, glabrous

14 Flowers in racemes, arising from the axils of the leaves of the previous year; hypanthium 2-3 times as long as the sepals

4. laureola 14 Flowers in pairs, arising from the axils of reduced leaves of the current year; hypanthium only slightly longer than the sepals 5. pontica 13 Flowers white, cream or pink, often hairy

15 Mature leaves hairy beneath 9. sericea 15 Mature leaves glabrous beneath

16 Leaves deciduous, 8-25 mm wide 1. mezereum 16 Leaves evergreen, coriaceous, 3-10 mm wide

17 Flowers in terminal panicles 2. gnidium 17 Flowers in small, terminal heads, with axillary clusters below them 17. gnidioides