Dais
(from dais, a torch; in allusion to the form of the inflorescence). ORD. Thymelaeaceae. A genus containing four species of trees and shrubs, three natives of Madagascar, and one from the Cape of Good Hope. The only one in cultivation is D. cotinifolia, an interesting greenhouse deciduous shrub. It thrives in a mixture of peat and loam. Increased by cuttings, made of half-ripened shoots, or of the roots, in April, placed in sand, under a bell glass, in heat.
D. cotinifolia (Cotinus-leaved). fl. pinkish, in umbellate involucrated heads. June. l. obovate, obtuse. h. 10ft. Cape of Good Hope, 1776. The bark of this yields the strongest fibre known to the natives of Southern Africa.