AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 223 
Labels—continued. 
rendered useless. Zine is usually written on with an 
indelible ink, consisting of a solution of sulphate of 
copper, and applied with a quill pen or pointed piece 
of wood; but Labels made of it are frequently far 
from satisfactory. The sizes may be indefinite when 
wood is used, and, by careful painting and preparation, 
the Labels may be rendered very durable. If only 
required for ordinary use, a little white paint on one 
side will suffice. Amy name may be easily erased with 
a piece of glass, and the Label used for other plants 
until it decays. Before permanently placing wooden 
Labels in the open ground, they should be painted all 
over and dried, adding a second coat at the time of 
writing, and then finally dipping the part intended for 
insertion in the ground into creosote, gas-tar, or any 
other preservative solution. 
LABIATZ. An extensive order of herbs, shrubs, or 
sub-shrubs, rarely arborescent or scandent, found chiefly 
in temperate regions of the Old World. Flowers in the 
axils of leaves or bracts, solitary or geminate, or in clus- 
tered centrifugal cymes, which form false whorls by their 
union in pairs, and are scattered, or crowded into spikes; 
calyx persistent, tubular, dentate, lobed or two-lipped ; 
corolla gamopetalous; tube evolute, short, or elongated, 
many-formed ; limb four or five-lobed; sstivation imbri- 
cate, sometimes bilabiate, the upper lip entire or emar- 
ginate, the lower three-lobed, from the upper lip being 
very short and deeply cleft, sometimes being bell or 
funnel-shaped, with four sub-equal lobes and sub-equal 
stamens. Leaves opposite or whorled, with pinnate 
reticulate nerves, exstipulate. “ Labiate forms one of 
the most natural groups of plants; the characters of its 
members are so uniform that it may be called monotypic, 
as if all the species could be comprehended in a single 
genus, and the discrimination of its genera is hence often 
very difficult” (Decaisne and Le iout). Many of the 
genera yield a valuable oil. Basit, Horehound, Hyssop, 
Lavender, Marjoram, Mint, Patchouly, Rosemary, Sage, 
Savory, and Thyme, belong to this order. There are about 
140 genera and 2600 species. The following are examples: 
Molanthus, Anisochilus, Coleus, Cunila, Hyssopus, Lamium, 
Lophanthus, Perilla, Salvia. 
LABIATE. “A term applied to that form of a 
monopetalons calyx or corolla which is separated into 
two unequal diyisions, the one anterior, and the other. 
posterior, with respect to the axis.” 
LABICHEA (named after M. Labiche, an officer of 
the French ship “ Uranie,’ who accompanied Freycinet 
in his voyage round the world), Orp. Leguminose. A 
genus of five species of unarmed greenhouse evergreen 
shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of Australia. Flowers 
yellow, in axillary, often few-fiowered, racemes; sepals 
and petals sometimes only four; stamens two. Leaves 
impinnate, or reduced to the terminal leaflet. Labicheas 
thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Cuttings of half- 
ripened shoots will root, during summer, in sand, if 
placed under a bell glass. The following is the only 
species now in cultivation. 
L. diversifolia (various-leaved). A synonym of L. lanceolata, 
L. lanceolata (lance-shape-leaved), fl. bright golden-yellow ; 
base of the upper petal stained with ; raceme about six- 
flowered. April to June. l., leaflets narrow-linear or lanceolate, 
terminating in a sharp spiny point. A. 6ft. Western Australia, 
1840. A compact bushy plant. (B. M. 6751.) Syn. L, diversifolia 
(under which name it is figured in L. & P. F. G. 52). 
LABILLARDIERA. A synonym of Billiardiera. 
LABIOSE. Applied to a polypetalous corolla which 
has the appearance of being labiate. 
LABISIA (from labis, a spoon; in allusion to the 
form of the corolla divisions, which resemble the bowls 
of small spoons). Spoonflower. ORD. Myrsinee. A genus 
comprising three or four species of very glabrous or 
L. vulgaris (common). 
“natives of Europe and Asia Minor. 
Labisia—continued. 
puberulous, small stove shrubs, with the habit of Pothos, 
confined ‘to the Malayan Archipelago. Flowers white, 
minute, in terminal, elongated, fasciculate racemes, 
Leaves few, sessile or petiolate, lanceolate, acuminate, 
entire or denticulate; petiole or base of leaf sheathed. 
The undermentioned is probably the only species grown 
in our gardens. It should be potted in sandy loam, to 
which a little rough peat is added, and placed in a 
humid atmosphere, with a gentle bottom heat. Plenty 
of water should be applied to the roots; and overhead 
syringings, in fine weather, will prove beneficial. Propa- 
gation may be effected by seeds. _ — 
L. pothoina (Pothos-like). £ white, small, each lobe of the 
corolla resembling the bowl of a small spoon. June. J. palmate, 
slender, entire or denticulate; petioles swollen at base, decur- 
rently articulated with the stem. Stem lft. or more high. (B. R. 
1845, 48.) i 
LABLAB (Lablab is the Arabic name of Convolvulus). 
ORD. Leguminose. This genus contains a few species, 
the one best known being that described below, which 
is widely cultivated throughout many tropical countries 
as a food plant; its pods and seeds being eaten as are 
kidney beans and haricots amongst us. For culture, see 
Dolichos. ye 
violet. June. Z, leaflets roundish- 
ovate, ending in a point furnished with a bristle. India, 1794. 
Stove climber. Now included under Dolichos, the correct 
name being D. Lablab (under which name it is figured in B. M. 
896). Syn. Lablavia vulgaris (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 236). 
LABLAVIA VULGARIS. See Lablab vulgaris. 
LABOUCHERIA. A synonym of Erythrophlæum. 
LABRADOR TEA. See Ledum. 
LABURNUM (the old Latin name used by Pliny). 
ORD. Leguminose. A genus comprising only three 
species of hardy, glabrous or puberulous trees or shrubs, 
: Flowers yellow, 
Fic. 365. FLOWERING BRANCHLET OF LABURNUM ALPINUM. 
in terminal racemes; calyx shortly, toothed; 
lip ovate or orbiculate. Leaves digitately three-foliolate. 
The species are readily raised from seed, and the varie- 
ties easily propagated by grafting or budding on the 
