Daphne laureola L.
Evergreen glabrous shrub to c. 1 m high. Branches suberect. Lvs subsessile, 5-12 × 1.5-3.5 cm, oblanceolate or narrow-obovate, dark shining green above; base attenuate; apex subacute or acute. Fls fragrant, in very short, axillary, bracteate racemes. Bracts pale green, mostly < calyx. Calyx 7-10 mm long, green; lobes c. ⅓ length of tube, ovate. Stamens inserted near apex of tube; filaments much < anthers. Style c. 0.5 mm long. Fr. ovoid, black or nearly so.
N.: Rotorua area; S.: Canterbury (as far inland as Lake Coleridge and Bluecliffs Station south of Timaru), Otago; St.
S.W. Europe, N. Africa 1959
Shady places in and around plantations, old cemeteries, domains and abandoned shrubberies, forest margins near settlements.
FL May-Aug.
Poisonous (Connor 1977).
A fl. of D. laureola is illustrated in Fig. 117. It is most commonly found wild in Canterbury where it may be a significant understory shrub in modified vegetation.
