Daphne laureola

The spurge-laurel or daphne-laurel is a shrub in the plant family Thymelaeaceae. Despite the name, this woodland plant is neither a spurge nor a laurel. Its native range covers much of Europe and extends to Algeria, Morocco and the Azores.

All parts of the plant are poisonous; the sap is known to cause skin rashes on contact.

• The plant reaches a height between 0.5–1.5 m. The habit of this shrub can be upright or decumbent (arched at the base then spreading upward).
• Leaves are deciduous, simple, alternate, oblanceolate to obovate-oblanceolate, 2–13 cm long and 1–3 cm wide, usually forming dense whorls at the shoot tips, but may clothe entire branches; they are glabrous (smooth), dark green and glossy on the upper surface and lighter in color beneath.
• Flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, usually hidden among the leaf bases.