Daphne ordinary

The common daphne is a deciduous low - branched shrub ^[3] up to 1.5 m high with a strong trunk and branches leafless in the lower part ^[8] . The root system is superficial. The old shoots are covered with a yellowish-gray wrinkled bark, leafless at the base, above - with traces of fallen leaves; young shoots shortly pubescent ^[9] .

The kidneys are alternate with numerous helically arranged scales having a clearly visible border, the final ones are up to 5-7 mm in length, and the lateral ones are smaller. The leaves are alternate, dark green, narrow ^[3] , glossy on top and bluish below, ciliate on the edges ^[8] , oblong reverse lanceolate, closely spaced, located at the ends of shoots on short petioles , simple, whole, 3-8 cm long and 1–8 2 cm wide ^[9] .

The flowers are bisexual, mostly pink, less often white (a variety of Daphne mezereum var. Album ) and other shades, fragrant, melliferous, usually sitting in bunches of two to three to five or individually on bare shoots ^[3] in the axils of last year's fallen leaves ^[8] . The perianth is simple, four-parted, 1-1.5 cm in diameter, tubular, nail-shaped, formed by fused petal-shaped sepals. Anthers are arranged in two rows at the entrance to the perianth tube. Tube 6-8 cm long, externally pressed-hairy, limb lobes ovate, 1.5 times shorter than tube. Four corolla corolla. Four stamens, four sitting on a tube near the pharynx, one above the other. The ovary is upper, single-celled, stigmatized, capitate, almost sedentary; the leg of the ovary in the form of a ring encompasses subpestic scales ^[10] . It blooms in early spring (April - early May) before the leaves bloom (or simultaneously with them ^[3] ). It is the earliest flowering shrub plant for central Russia ^[11] .

Pollinated by insects. Bright flowers that appear in the forest before the leaves bloom in the trees attract the attention of pollinators, among which mainly bees , less often riders and butterflies. Insects are also attracted to nectar , which stands out at the base of the ovary. Flowers have protoginia . When the proboscis of an insect enters the perianth tube, pollen from the anthers surrounding the tube does not stick to it, since it does not have stickiness. Further, the proboscis touches the stigma, located much lower, and, finally, nectaries . The proboscis becomes sticky from nectar, and when the insect pulls it out, it again comes into contact with anthers. This time, pollen sticks to the proboscis and is thus transferred to another flower ^[12] .

Fruits - bright red oval juicy drupes the size of a cherry stone with spherical shiny seeds ^[3] . The stone is dark brown, shiny, broadly oval, 5-6 mm long ^[13] . Fruits in late July - August. In 1 kg there are 4 thousand drupes, or 33 thousand seeds. The weight of one drupe is 0.3 ± 0.04 g ^[10] . The embryo occupies almost the entire seed, the endosperm is completely or almost completely absent, the cotyledons perform the storage function ^[14] .

The diploid number of chromosomes is 2n = 18 ^[15] .

All parts of the plant, especially the fruits, contain spicy burning poisonous juice.

It occurs almost throughout Europe , in Transcaucasia ( Armenia , Azerbaijan , northern Iran ) ^[16] .

In Russia, it grows throughout the forest zone — in the north of the European part of Russia (including the Arctic region ^[16] ) and Western Siberia (along the border with the forest-steppe ; it extends eastward to Lake Baikal ^[3] ), in the North Caucasus and Dagestan ^[16] .

It grows more often in the understory of dark coniferous and mixed forests , less often in broad-leaved forests of the forest-steppe ^[3] . In the southern regions - in the subalpine zone of the mountains. It grows well and branches with light clarification ^[8] .

The area of plants in Russia is declining (especially in the southern part).

As an alien plant, it naturalized everywhere in the temperate zone ^[16] .

Described from Europe ( habitat in Europæ borealis sylvis ). Type in London.

Guard Status

Occasionally bred in gardens as an ornamental plant , notable for early flowering in spring and bright fruits in autumn. Due to the toxicity of the plant, its use for decorative purposes is limited. Two garden forms are given in the literature: Daphne mezereum f. variegata with variegated leaves and Daphne mezereum f. autumnalls , which is notable for the fact that it blooms in late autumn (in November and December) and does not have pink, but lilac flowers ^[17] .

It is used in folk medicine , as well as in homeopathy ^[8] , in this capacity appears in the " Canon of medical science " Avicenna ^[18] .

The popular belief says: “He who eats the wolfberry (berries) will get sick, since a bush will grow from the berries in the belly” ^[19] .

" Dictionary of the Russian Academy " indicates the following use of fruits:

The bush of deliberate size is twisted, clad in light, soft; smooth bark; the leaves are copy-like, falling, before which on the ravines in a circle around the sides there are flowers in bunches on very short stems, four-sectioned, scarlet, out of which berries are oval, red, pea-sized, which is quite small in size; the nucleus is spherical, decaying into two parts, white, covered with its own peel. It grows and is living in wet terrain. The bark of this tree stretches bubbles on human skin; the peasant girls are rubbed with berries for berries, which is why they inflate and make them happy ” ^[20] .

The use of the plant in folk medicine was pointed out by Peter Simon Pallas in his book “Traveling to Different Provinces of the Russian State” (1776) ^[21] .

The use of plants for medical purposes is prohibited ^[22] . In scientific medicine, bark and preparations from it, as well as berries, were used almost exclusively as external as skin irritants ^[13] and narcotic drugs. For medical purposes, the bark was prepared in January - February, stripping it with ribbons, and dried with the inner surface to the outside. The berries were picked quite ripe and dried ^[23] .

Daphne ordinary is used in homeopathy in the form of essences from fresh bark collected before flowering plants ^[13] .

Bast from the branches was sometimes used to weave women's hats and other small items ^[24] .

On the island of Hokkaido , plant juice was used by the Ainu to wet the spearhead of harpoons when hunting walruses ^[21] .

Poisonous organs

Strongly poisonous leaves, flowers, fruits.

Chemical composition and toxic mechanism

It contains diterpenoids ( daphnetoxin , meserein ), coumarins ( daphnin , daphnetin , etc.) ^[22] . Meserein C ₃₈ H ₃₈ O ₁₀ ^[25] represents the active principle of daphne and is found in all parts of the plant ^[26] , has a strong local irritant effect on the skin (causes redness and blisters) and mucous membranes (causes burning and indigestion) ^[22] . Daphnin and other hydroxycoumarins belong to the group of antivitamins K and can cause increased bleeding. Meserein exhibits mutagenic properties.

The berries also contained: fatty oil (31%), traces of essential oil , wax , gum , bitter coloring and protein substances, mineral salts and daphnin-like substance coccognine (C ₁₀ H ₂₈ O ₄ ) ^[26] .

Poison Painting

Poisoning occurs when eating berries (often children), chewing bark, as well as when the skin comes in contact with wet bark or if plant juice ( dermatitis ) gets on it. Inhalation of dust from the cortex causes irritation of the mucous membranes of the pharynx and respiratory tract, contact with the eyes irritates the conjunctiva . After eating the berries, there is a burning sensation in the mouth, pain in the epigastric region, nausea , vomiting , weakness, and convulsions are possible. Poisoning proceeds as hemorrhagic gastroenteritis . In severe cases, poisoning can cause death.

An enormous list of Russian folk names for the common wolfberry is given by the Lavrenovs in the Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants: fluffless grass, chatterbox, pine forest, bronze, color giants, wolfberry, wolf pepper, wolf ivy, wolfberry, wolfberry, chest grass, childbirth, wild pepper, dolicha, chariot, forest hemp, scab, kumanitsa, laurel, lizun, lyubka, respirational grass, grass grass, sandstone, placard, grass grass, prigris, umbilical cord, umbilical grass, plump fur, self-righteousness, grass grass, herpesbird, cottonwood, bruise, bruise, t forest abacus, grass, bloody root, pagan forest, bloody nibble, bloody beard, thistles, berries, cow's tongue, pagan, pine boletus ^[27] .

Synonyms

Intraspecific taxa

Autonym Daphne mezereum subsp. mezereum .

• Homogeneous synonyms :
  • Daphne Florida Salisb. , nom. illeg.
  • Daphne mezereum var. typica beck
  • Mezereum officinarum camey.
  • Thymelaea mezereum ( L. ) Scop.
• Heterotype synonyms:
  • Daphne mezereum f. alba ( Aiton ) Scheele
  • Daphne mezereum var. albaplena rehder
  • Daphne mezereum var. albida Meisn.
  • Daphne mezereum var. alba aiton
  • Daphne mezereum var. grandiflora dippel
  • Daphne mezereum var. rubra aiton

The only subspecies of Daphne mezereum subsp. rechingeri ( Wendelbo ) Halda , 2001. Basionym Daphne rechingeri Wendelbo, 1960.

Hybrid

EG Pobedimova in "Flora of the USSR" (1949) expressed the opinion that under the name Daphne houtteana Lindl. ^{[K 2]} describes a hybrid between Daphne laureola L. and Daphne mezereum . This hybrid differs from the daphne ordinary in the development of flowers simultaneously with leaves; lanceolate leaves, pointed at the apex, almost leathery, violet-purple flowers and small forked pedicels that remain after the fruit has fallen ^[26] .

Wolf bast mentions in S. Notes of the gun hunter of the Orenburg province " S. T. Aksakov , classing him as blackwood together with" bushes that also lose their leaves in winter " ^[28] .

The bush is mentioned in the “Pantry of the Sun” by M. M. Prishvin and his other works ^[29] . In the book "Forest Drops" the writer dedicated a separate miniature to him:

And from underneath, through this layer, a wolf's bast has beaten out into the light, on its own free wolf, and now has blossomed with small raspberry flowers. The stalk of this very first spring flower is really as strong as a bast, and even stronger: a wolf bast. Without a knife, it is almost impossible to tear a flower from the ground, and perhaps this is not necessary: ​​the wolf bast flower smells wonderful from a distance like a hyacinth, but if you bring it closer to your nose, it smells so bad, worse than a wolf. I look at him now and marvel at him and remember some familiar people: from a distance they are very good, but if you come closer, they will smell like wolves.

- M.M. Prishvin. Wolf bast ^[30]

The lyrical miniatures of the same name dedicated to the wolfskin I. S. Sokolov-Mikitov :

Have you ever seen this fabulous, still without leaves, small tree completely covered with flowers?
You go in early spring to the capercaillie current and suddenly stop. At the ditch itself, filled with spring water, a tiny tree blooms lushly. The forest has not yet blossomed, not all songbirds have arrived, last year's fallen leaves covered barely awakened land. Only in some places do snowdrops appear. And this wonderful tree is all in bloom!

For a long time you admire the fabulous tree covered with mauve, as if from wax fashioned by tiny flowers ...

- I. S. Sokolov-Mikitov. Wolf bast ^[31]

and N.I. Sladkov :

Until then, the berries are good - they themselves ask for it in their mouth! But you can’t even think about it: the berries are poisonous! All red berries - strawberries, raspberries, lingonberries - have a red color like a bright candy wrapper on a delicious candy: eat us! And these are like a stop signal: do not try, do not touch! We are wolf berries with poisonous wolf bast!

- N.I.Sladkov . Wolfish bast

• Volchnik // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Wolf berries / Shimanyuk A.P. // Veshin - Gazli. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1971. - (The Great Soviet Encyclopedia : [in 30 vol.] / Ch. Ed. A. M. Prokhorov ; 1969-1978, vol. 5).
• Vakhrameeva M.G., Denisova L.V. Wolf common bast // Biological flora of the Moscow region. Vol. 1 / Ed. T.A. Rabotnova . - M .: Publishing house Mosk. University, 1974.- S. 124-130.
• Lavrenova G.V., Lavrenov V.K. Encyclopedia of medicinal plants: 2 t . - Donetsk: Donechchina, 1997. - T. 1. - 644 p. - ISBN 966-556-110-3 .
• Orlov B.N., Gelashvili D.B., Ibragimov A.K. Poisonous animals and plants of the USSR. - M .: Higher. shk, 1990. - S. 200-202.
• Pobedimova E.G. Genus 908. Volchnik - Daphne L. // Flora of the USSR : 30 tons / started at the hands of. and under chap. ed. V. L. Komarova . - M .; L .: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR , 1949. - T. 15 / ed. volumes B.K. Shishkin , E.G. Bobrov . - S. 483-500. - 742 s. - 4000 copies.
• Zinger, A.V. 4: Spring first-born of our forests // Entertaining botany / [ed. and with add. prof. S. S. Stankova]. - 5th ed. - M .: Sov. Science, 1951. - 248 p.
• Artamonov, V. Wolf bast // Science and Life: Journal. - M. , 1989. - No. 4 . - S. 158-161 .

• Daphne mezereum : information about the taxon in the Plantarium project (a identifier of plants and an illustrated atlas of species). (Retrieved March 30, 2015)
• Tropicos: Daphne mezereum