The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Daphne mezereum
Also called Paradise Plant, February Daphne, Lady Laurel, Mezereum, Spurge Laurel, Spurge Olive
Mezereon is a small deciduous shrub grown for its early, strongly scented pink flowers that appear on bare stems in late winter and spring. It likes cool, lime-rich soil and is best kept in a sheltered spot where its poisonous berries and twigs are out of reach.
Daphne mezereum, the mezereon, is a species of Daphne in the flowering plant family Thymelaeaceae, native to most of Europe and Western Asia, north to northern Scandinavia and Russia. In southern Europe it is confined to medium to higher elevations (up to 2600 m) in the subalpine vegetation zone, but descends to sea level in northern Europe. It is generally confined to soils derived from limestone. In the United Kingdom, the native population became a protected species in 1975 under the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants Act.
Daphne mezereum is very toxic because of the compounds mezerein and daphnin, present especially in the berries and twigs. If poisoned, victims experience a choking sensation. Handling the fresh twigs can cause rashes and eczema in sensitive individuals. Despite this, it is commonly grown as an ornamental plant in gardens for its attractive, scented flowers.
Daphne arbuscula · Lokta · Rose Daphne · Winter Daphne · Daphne papyracea · Twin Flower Daphne · Daphne tangutica · Mezereons
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Daphne mezereum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
