Shrubs with tough leather-like bark and entire leaves. Flowers perfect. Calyx tubular, resembling a corolla, pale yellow. Stamens twice as many as the lobes of the calyx (in our species 8). Style thread-like. Stigma capitate. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled, free from the calyx. Fruit a berry-like drupe. Only one Species in Canada.

Dirca. L. Leatherwood. Moose-wood

1. D. palustris, L. A branching shrub, 2-5 feet high, with curious jointed branchlets and nearly oval leaves on short petioles. Flowers in clusters of 3 or 4, preceding the leaves. Filaments exserted, half of them longer than the others. - Damp woods.

2. Daphne Meze'reum, L., has escaped from cultivation in a few places. A low shrub with purple, rose-coloured or whitish flowers, preceding the leaves in early spring.