Phaleria
(from phaleros, shining white; alluding to the colour of the flowers). SYN. Drimyspermum. ORD. Thymeleaceae. A genus comprising about eight species of stove or greenhouse trees or shrubs, natives of Ceylon, the Malayan Archipelago, and Australia Flowers sessile, in terminal, or rarely lateral, usually numerous heads; perianth tube cylindrical elongated; lobes four or five, rarely six, spreading; bracts leafy Leaves opposite. P. laurifolia, the only species introduced, thrives in a compost of rich, light loam and fibry peat. It may be propagated by seeds, sown on a hotbed in spring; or by cuttings of the young shoots, inserted in sand, under a bell glass, in bottom heat.
P. laurifolia (Laurel-leaved). fl. white, disposed in terminal, many-flowered heads; peduncles two lines long, scaly-bracted. l. shortly stalked, oblong or elliptic-oblong, 3in. to 5in. long, 1in to 1 1/2in. broad, slightly acuminate at both ends, glabrous. h. 6ft Ceylon, 1869. Stove shrub, remarkable for the delicious Daphne like scent of the flowers. (B. M. 5787.)