See text Daphne /ˈdæfni/[3] (Greek: δάφνη, romanized: dafni, "laurel") is a genus of between 70 and 95 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs in the family Thymelaeaceae, native to Asia, Europe and north Africa.

The flowers are grouped into clusters (inflorescences), either in the leaf axils towards the end of the stems or forming terminal heads.

Individual flowers completely lack petals and are formed by four (rarely five) petaloid sepals, tubular at the base with free lobes at the apex.

Some of these species were reduced to subspecies or varieties by Josef Halda in a series of papers from 1997 onwards,[9] culminating in a monograph on the genus.

[6] A 2002 study based on chloroplast DNA placed Daphne in a group of related genera; however there was only one species representing each genus.

These include: Daphne is a Eurasian genus, being native to central and southern Europe and Asia,[6] from Britain[20] to Japan.

It is recommended that they are grown in well drained but moisture-retentive soil, avoiding strongly acid conditions.

[4] The following species, hybrids and cultivars are recipients of the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit: All parts of daphnes are toxic, the berries being particularly so.

Symptoms of ingestion include burning sensations and lesions of the mouth and upper digestive tract, gastroenteritis and diarrhoea, and in severe cases, damage to the kidneys (nephritis), irregular heart rhythm, and coma.

[32][33] Daphnes have an OPALS allergy scale rating of 5 out of 10, indicating moderate potential to cause allergic reactions, exacerbated by over-use of the same plant throughout a garden.