This order is well known from the Mezereon and the Spurge Laurel, both common garden shrubs belonging to the genus Daphne. The berries of both are poisonous, and the bark acrid. The flowers of the Mezereon (_D. Mezereum_) have a coloured calyx, which is tubular, with a four-cleft limb (see _fig._ 143), which is slightly hairy on the outer surface, and pitted on the inner one. It is said that this calyx will separate readily into two, the inner part peeling off like a lining: but I have never been able to effect this without tearing the outer covering. There are eight anthers, with scarcely any filaments, affixed in two rows to the throat of the corolla; and an egg-shaped ovary, with a tufted stigma without any style. The fruit is a drupe, that is, formed like a plum, with a fleshy pericardium, enclosing a stone or nut, the kernel of which is the seed, and which sometimes appears to be partially enveloped in a sort of hairy bag, which is the lining of the ovary become loose. The flowers of the Mezereon grow round the stem, with a tuft of leaves at the top; but those of the Spurge Laurel (_D. Laureola_) are in a cluster of short drooping racemes. The most remarkable species of the genus is, however, the Lace Bark-tree of Jamaica (_D. Lagetto_, or _Lagetta lintearia_), the liber or inner bark of which has such tough fibres as to bear stretching out considerably without breaking; and in this state it resembles lace so much, that a collar and ruffles were made of it and sent to Charles II. Gnidia, a greenhouse plant, has little scales in the mouth of the calyx; and Pimelea has the flowers in heads, surrounded by a four-leaved involucre. The principal other genera are Lachnæa, a little Australian plant with woolly flowers, Passerina or Sparrow-wort, and Struthiola. The curious little tree called Leatherwood (_Dirca palustris_) also belongs to this order. ORDER CLXII.—OSYRIDEÆ. Exotic trees with white or greenish flowers. The only genera are the Poet’s Cassia (_Osyris_), and a genus of Australian plants called Exocarpos. ORDER CLXIII.—SANTALACEÆ. The most interesting plant is the Sandal-wood tree (_Santalum album_), which requires a stove in England; but the North American trees belonging to the genus Nyssa, including the Tupelotree and the Ogechee Lime, are quite hardy. The flowers are small and insignificant; and the fruit is a drupe. ORDER CLXIV.—ELÆAGNEÆ. The three genera included in this order are the Sea Buckthorn (_Hippophae_), the Oleaster (_Elæagnus_), and the Shepherdia; all so easily recognised by their silvery foliage, as to need no particular description. The flowers are small and inconspicuous. ORDER CLXV.—ASARINEÆ, OR ARISTOLOCHIEÆ.