Same as Scotch broom, English ivy and common hawthorn, daphne is a very aggressive invasive plant in our region. It is drought tolerant and shade tolerant and can occupy a wide variety of sites. If you look for it, you’ll find it almost everywhere. In some places, e.g. large parts of Saysutshun Newcastle Island Park, daphne has formed monocultures that completely replace native plants in the understory of the Douglas-fir forest.
Injured daphne plants exude a sap that can cause skin irritation. It’s good to wear long sleeves and gloves if you plan on handling a lot of daphne plants, e.g. if you’re taking part in a habitat restoration party and clearing out daphne from an area.
Daphne can form large closed communities in the understory of our forests, completely outcompeting native plants. Note the shiny, dark-green leaves that are densely stacked near the top of the plant. The plants can get quite tall, but most specimens reach to a bit above your knee in height. Photo credit: Douglas FraserThis daphne plant is wet, so it looks extremely shiny. However, even in dry conditions, the leaves are shiny due to a thick layer of cuticular waxes covering the outside of the leaf. As with English ivy (Hedera helix) and tall Oregon grape (Berberis aquifolium) too, the thick cuticular waxes contribute to the drought tolerance of the plant. Note how the pointy leaves taper towards the leaf base. Photo credit: Douglas FraserThe green stem of daphne. Note the spirally attached leaves and smooth leaf margins. If the stem is cut, new branches develop from the axillary buds – the small green buds in each leaf axis. When removing the plant from the environment, it’s important to cut it below the surface of the soil, or to dig or pull it out. Just cutting back the stem above ground will only cause the plant to become bushy – not dead. Photo credit: Douglas FraserDaphne bears light-green flowers in early spring. The flowers are borne in the leaf axils and are sometimes almost hidden by the leaves. Photo credit: Gail Hampshire via FlickrDaphne produces dark berries in the summer to fall. Birds eat the berries (which are toxic to humans) and disperse the seeds widely. Photo credit: Douglas Fraser
PLEASE NOTE: Sometimes people confuse daphne with the native plant Chimaphila umbellata, prince’s-pine / pipsissewa, and they pull out the pipsissewa thinking they’re doing a good thing. This is very unfortunate, because pipsissewa is a very slow growing and beautiful native plant. Before you pull, please study the images below for how to tell pipsissewa from daphne.
Pipsissewa (Chimaphila umbellata) is superficially similar to daphne; it has dark shiny, evergreen leaves that are spirally attached to the stem. However, look at the leaf margin! Pipsissewa clearly has a toothed leaf margin, while daphne has a smooth leaf margin. Photo credit: US Forest Service via FlickrWhen in flower, it is easy to tell pipsissewa from daphne. Pipsissewa has pink flowers borne on stalks well above the foliage, while daphne has light-green flowers in amongst its leaves. Photo credit: Urmas Ojango via Flickr
