12-Feb Wild Shrubs of February

Daphne mezereum is a wild flowering shrub which has one of the great scents of February. The rose-purple flowers cover leafless stems, producing a heady scent not unlike that of hyacinths even though its bark has an unpleasant scent. As it can grow up to a metre or more in height the odour can be considerable, and in the past was thought to induce headaches and fainting fits when placed in a room. Due to its beauty, its scent and its early flowering, it has been picked from the wild to virtual extinction. Luckily, it can still be seen outside London on the Warburg reserve in the Chilterns. Equally fortunately, the wild plant and its various cultivars are common enough in our gardens. There is even a white form with yellow berries D. mezereum f. alba and a deep red one D. mezereum var. rubra and a double.

It is, however, a plant of contrasts and has a dark side. Its red berries, which look like redcurrants are highly poisonous. One or two are enough to kill a child, three or four a pig, and twelve an adult human. Death is also quite unpleasant. The berries at first taste sweet, then acrid and then begin to burn. First the tongue and lips swell, then there is excessive salivation and, before death, possibly some muscle-twitching and violent diarrhoea. The berries however don’t seem to harm birds and snails even seem to relish them, even eating them while still unripe.

Mezereon has been grown in our gardens for a long time. Gerard in the sixteenth century recorded it in his garden in Holborn. It is said to look its best in full bloom after a snowfall and this may account for it also being known as the Paradise plant.

The closely related spurge laurel Daphne laureda is still with us, but rarely seen. The Victorians liked it and planted this lover of the gloom in their dark, overgrown gardens. This month the darker patches of woodland around St Martha’s hill is a good place to look for it where it may now be coming into flower. Its hanging flowers are more in evidence this month though still hidden by its shiny evergreen leaves giving the whole plant a melancholic or funereal look.

A closer look at the flowers reveals they have orange anthers just visible within their throats. Their smell has been variously described as non existent, honey, musk or sour as well as being intermittent. It therefore seems likely the flowers may start off with some sweetness and then either lose their scent or develop some more unpleasant notes as they go over. The whole plant, like its cousin Mezereum is dangerous in all its parts, including its black berries which will come later and are also known to burn and blister the tongue. Being quite so dangerous it seems to have just been used as a last resort to treat cancers or procure abortions.