AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
OF HORTICULTURE. 
239 
Laurinez —continued. 
a twining herb), natives, for the most part, of tropical 
regions. Flowers greenish or yellow, small, sometimes 
minute, often cymose, umbellate, or capitate. Leaves 
alternate or scattered, rarely opposite, coriaceous and 
evergreen, rarely membranaceous and annual, often (ex- 
cept Hernandia) glandular-dotted, feather-veined, or more 
or less distinctly three to five-nerved, between the veins 
often thickly reticulate, undivided or rarely two or three: 
lobed, the rest entire. Lawrinee secrete a pungent 
volatile oil in the bark and glands of the leaves and 
flowers. Laurus nobilis, a South European tree, is the 
Victor’s Laurel or Sweet Bay, the leaves of which have 
a pleasant scent and an acrid and aromatic taste; they 
are used as a flavouring. Cinnamomum officinale yields 
the Cinnamon-bark of commerce. Camphora oficinarum, 
a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, furnishes 
Camphor, a concrete, volatile, colourless oil, with a pene- 
trating odour, and an acrid but cooling taste. The woods 
of many of the Lawrinew are parti y useful to cabinet- 
makers and turners, 
There are about. 
irty-four genera and 900 species. 
are: Camphora, Cinnamomum, 
: . Included under Cerasus. 
LAURUS (the old Latin name of the European species). 
Laurel. ORD. Laurinee. 
comprises but a couple of species of hardy evergreen 
trees, one of which is from the Mediterranean region, 
and the other a native of the Canary Islands. Flowers 
shortly peduneulate, fasciculate or shortly racemose. 
Berry ovoid. Leaves alternate, feather-veined. The 
Laurel was called Daphne by the Greeks, and was con- 
` secrated to priests and heroes, and used in sacrifices. 
The Bay will sueceed in almost any soil. Cuttings in- 
serted under a hand glass, in sandy soil, root readily, if 
attended to for shade and moisture. Seeds, also, are 
often produced where plants of the two sexes occur. 
L. Benzoin.* See Lindera Benzoin, 
Fig. 378. FRUITING TWIG, INFLORESCFNCE, AND FRUITS OF 
HLAURUS NOBILIS, 
L. nobilis (noble).* Common Laurel; Sweet Bay-tree. fl. yel- 
-Jowish, inconspicuous. Early spring. fr., berries very dark- 
purple, ripe in October, l. oblong-lanceolate, acute, veiny. 
h. 0ft. to 60ft. South Europe, 1 A well-known, aromatic, 
evergreen tree or shrub. See Fig. 378. There are two or three 
unimportant varieties in cultivation, having variegated, curled, 
and Willow-shaped leaves. : 
L. Sassafras, Sce Sassafras officinale. 
LAURUSTINUS. See Viburnum Tinus. 
LAVANDULA (from lavo, to wash; in reference 
to its use in the preparation of Lavender - water). 
ing of a fine and solid tissue. | 
This much-confused genus | 
Lavandula—continued. 
Lavender. Syn. Fabricia. ORD. Labiate. A genus 
comprising about a score species of greenhouse or hardy 
perennial herbs, shrubs, or sub-shrubs, inhabiting the 
Mediterranean regions, and extending from the Canary 
Islands to the East Indian Peninsula. Flowers blue or 
violet, sub-sessile; corolla tube exserted, a little dilated 
at the throat; limb oblique, bilabiate; whorls two to 
ten - flowered, in cylindrical simple spikes. Nutlets 
glabrous, smooth. Leaves often clustered near the base, 
sometimes pinnatifid-dissected. The species are of easy 
culture in almost any friable garden soil. Propagation 
may be readily effected by cuttings of young wood, in- 
serted in free sandy soil, under handlights, in autumn, 
and planted out during the following spring. The 
flower spikes of the common Lavender (L, vera) are fre- 
quently eut and dried, on account of their peculiar last- 
i Cutting, however, should not take place 
until the flowers are fully expanded. The spikes should 
be spread and dried slowly, in a cool, shady position, and 
be then hung up or stored in a dry place. Although the 
Lavender is possessed of medicinal qualities, which were, 
at one time, somewhat extensively employed, it is now 
almost solely grown for the essential oil, which is largely 
used in perfumery, : 
L, abrotanoides (Abrotanum-like). /l. in dense spikes ; corolla 
bright purple, the upper lip ig 9 Pagar a ser the lower with 
three equal, Aa oe pce a lo l. densely crowded, sub- 
sessile, ovate, deeply bipinnatifid. Canary Islands. A pretty 
species. (Ref. B. 159.) 
L. dentata (toothed). A. dark purple ; whorls six to ten-flowered ; 
ikes loose, rather tufted at the apex ; calyx oblong, pubescent, 
akant equal in length to the tube of the corolla. Summer. 
l. oblong, linear, or lanceolate, bluntly and pinnately toothed, 
pubescent, hoary beneath, with revolute edges, Branches 
ascending, tetragonal, pubescent. h. lft. to 2ft. South-west 
Europe, 1397. A pretty shrub, hardy only in warm, sunny situa- 
.) 
tions. (B. M. 400, : 
L., pinnata (pinnate-leaved). ji. purple, large, in imbricated 
branched — June. J. petiolate; leaflets wedge-shaped. 
_ h. 1ft. Madeira, 1777. Greenhouse. (B. M. 401.) 
L. Spica (Spica). A synonym of L. vera, 
L. Stoechas — fl. dark purple; whorls six to ten- 
flowered ; spi 3 
than the corolla. Summer. l. oblong-linear, quite entire, with 
revolute edges, clothed with hoary tomentum on both surfaces. 
h. 2ft. to 3ft. Mediterranean region, 1568. A handsome, hazir ; 
shrub, having a strong, aromatic, agreeable flavour. (S. F. G. 549. ) 
L. vera (true).* Common Lavender. jl. blue, rarely white ; whorls 
six to ————— spikes somewhat i rupt Summer, 
l. . oblong-lanceolate, somewhat spathniti quite entire, nar- 
rowed a long way at the base, with somewhat revolute mar 
hoary on both surfaces. h. lft. to 2ft. South Europe, 
Syn. L. Spica. (B. M. PI. 199.) 
— bo x Lobos of tho 
allied to Malva, but having the three to six lo 
involucel coherent about half-way up. i — axillary 
and solitary, clustered, or terminal and racemose. 
Leaves sack ae lobed. The following are the only 
species worth growing. For culture, see Malva, __ 
Wess — se Je, Shi detean: 
tarp acaulescent 
large, on 
———— ubescent all over. (Sy. 
variegata: 
handsome species, a 
279.) There is ash garden form of this ( 
— leaves, — H < 379, for which we are indebted 
—— — Lavatera. jl. reddish on 
Olbia). Tree Lavatera. fl. reddish-purph , m 
— —— June to October. l, soft, pu Se n 
iddle lobe elongated ; upper- 
upper ones three-lobed, with the middle 
ves oblong, almost undivided, Stem shrubby, scabrous. 
—— e {570 (now become naturalised in some parts of 
Britain). ; 
Bri i 7 
trimestris (three-monthly).* jl. rose-coloured; pedicels soli- 
— —— l smoothish, roundish-cordate ; Ee gai me 
lobed. Stem herbaceous, scabrous. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Sou 
urope, Asia Minor, &c., 1633. A common bnt very beautiful and 
aon hardy annual. See Fig. 380. (B. M. 409.) 
es dense, comose; calyces ovate, hoary, shorter 
jong "tive to nine-lobed, crenate. Stem = 
7 T OS : ne 
h. ft. to 10ft, Coasts of Europe (Britain. A | i 
