DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 307 
wild in some parts of India. It is also cultivated in many countries. It has been a 
favorite garden plant in the East from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the 
present day. The Egyptians used the flowers for perfuming the oils and ointments 
with which they anointed the body and for embalming the bodies of their dead. 
The Jews also derived a perfume from the flowers, which they employed in their 
baths, and in religious ceremonies, and they sprinkled the flowers on the garments 
of the newly married. 
From the most ancient times the leaves have been used in the East for staining 
the fingers, nails, hands, and feet, and for dyeing the hair. Egyptian mummies have 
been found with their nails stained by it. In India its use is still universal among 
Mohammedan women and has spread among the Hindoos. In southern China, where 
it is common, it is also used for the same purpose. To dye the nails, the freshly 
gathered leaves and young twigs are pounded with lime or catechu, mixed with hot 
water, and applied to the fingers over night. For dyeing the hair a paste of the 
powdered leaves is applied to it and it is bound up with leaves, wax cloth, or oilskin. 
After a half hour or more the preparation is washed off and the hair is found to be 
of abright red color. A second application is then made of the powder of the indigo 
plant made into a paste with water and allowed to remain three hours. This turns 
the haira jet black. Ointments are used to make it glossy. The process must be 
repeated frequently, as with other dyes, on account of the growth of the hair. By 
certain classes of Mohammedans the process is stopped at the first stage, leaving the 
hair and beard red; and in Persia, Arabia, and northern India the manes and tails 
of horses are sometimes colored red by the same process. 
REFERENCES: 
Lawsonia inermis L. Sp. Pl. 1: 349. 1753, 
Layfal (Philippines). See Zmziher zingiber. 
Lead tree (West Indies). See Leucaena glauca. 
Lechuga (Spanish). See Lactuca sativa. 
Lecideaceae. See under Lichenes. 
Lecythidaceae. BRAZIL-NUT FAMILY. 
This family is represented in Guam by Barringtonia speciosa, and B. racemosa. 
Leguminosae. See Mimosaceae, Fabaceae, and Caesalpiniacece. 
Lemae, Lemay, or Lemai ((vuam). 
Names of the sterile breadfruit (Artocarpus communis); modified to ‘ rima,”’ 
Lemon. See Citrus medica limon. 
Lemon-grass. See Andropogon nardus. 
Lemoncito. See Triphasia trifoliata. 
Lengnga (Philippines). See Sesamum orientale. 
Lengua de Vaca (Guam). 
Local name for a species of introduced prickly-pear (Opuntia sp.). 
Lens phaseoloides. SNUFF-BOX SEA-BEAN. PLATE LVI. 
Family Fabaceae. 
LocaL NAMEs.—Gayé, Gadyé, Gayi, Lédnsong, Bayog (Guam); Gogo, Gogong 
bakai, Bayogo, Balones (Philippines); Cacoon (West Indies); Boja (Cuba); 
Tupe (Samoa); Kaka (Rarotonga); Match-box bean (Queensland). 
A giant climber with snake-like branches, bipinnate leaves, minute flowers grow- 
ing in long slender spikes, and an enormous flattened woody, jointed pod like a 
sword-scabbard, the margins of which c6nsist of astrong woody suture, which persists 
«Drury, Useful Plants of India, p. 285; Smith, Dict. Economic Plants, p. 81; Watt, 
Economic Products of India, vol. 4, pp. 559, 601; Treasury of Botany, vol. 2, p. 660. 
