This evergreen shrub is putting on a show of discreet flowers on the Ecological Mound.
With a distribution from the Azores, across Europe and into North Africa, this evergreen shrub is also a native of the United Kingdom, where it thrives on chalky soils in hedgerows and woodland. It grows to 1.5m and has dark green, glossy leaves, which resemble the foliage of the spurge, Euphorbia amygdaloides, hence its common name spurge laurel. From mid winter into early spring it bears clusters of small, star-shaped, green flowers. Daphne laureola is one of approximately 100 species of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from Europe, North Africa and Asia. In the wild species grow in habitats ranging from low lying woodland to mountains. The genera is cultivated mainly for its attractive, and often scented flowers, but all parts of the plants are highly toxic.