Common name:
Spurge laurel
Family:
Scientific name:
Daphne laureola
Main flower color:
Range:
Commonest in southern England; also in Wales, northern England, eastern Ireland and southern Scotland
Height:
Up to 100 cm
Habitat:
Woodland (especially beech), on calcareous soils
Flowers:
Greenish-yellow, up to 12 mm across; a tubular calyx opening to four recurved, triangular lobes, and containing eight pale yellow stamens, about the same height as the tube. Flowers are subtended by a curved green bract, and they form in clusters at the upper leaf nodes
Fruit:
Fleshy ovate capsules, green ageing to black
Leaves:
Lanceolate, hairless, leathery, dark green
Season:
February to April
Rarity:
★★★★★
