AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 
263 
Ligatures—continued. 
rolled spirally round the cut surfaces, and drawn tight 
enough, at every turn, to keep all the parts firmly in 
position. Whatever the material used as a Ligature may 
be, it should be examined occasionally after being applied, 
and gradually loosened and removed when a complete 
union of the parts is effected. 
LIGERIA SPECIOSA. See Sinningia speciosa. 
LIGHT. The exposure of plants to Light is one of 
the chief conditions under which they succeed in making 
their growth. Growth made in the absence of sufficient 
solar Light consists of weak, elongated shoots that are un- 
able to perform their proper functions. All vegetable life 
is in an active state throughout the spring and summer, 
when the amount of heat and Light is correspondingly 
great; as both diminish in autumn, growth declines, and 
many plants remain in a somewhat dormant state until 
the following year. The amount of Light available in 
winter needs utilising to the fullest extent for plant 
cultivation, by keeping the glass in all houses and pits 
frequently cleaned. Heavy blinds permanently fixed on 
houses, in summer, often prove injurious, by preventing 
an amount of Light from entering in cloudy weather 
that would be most beneficial to the occupants. Plants 
standing in a dark part of a house will be found to grow 
weak and drawn, compared with others in the same 
structure similarly situated except in regard to this im- 
portant element. Light is most essential to all vegeta- 
tion, on account of the chemical action it causes in the 
production of colouring matter in the leaves. It is pur- 
_ posely excluded from many vegetables, by closing their 
outside leaves together or covering the stems with soil, 
as the case may be, in order to blanch and render the 
centre or edible portion tender and available for use. 
LIGHTFOOTIA (named in honour of Rev. J. Light- 
foot, 1735-1788, author of a Flora of Scotland). ORD. 
Campanulacee. A genus of about forty species of green- 
house evergreen small shrubs, or erect annual or branching 
perennial herbs, natives, for the most part, of the Cape 
of Good Hope. Flowers blue, white, or rose, small. 
Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, often fasciculate in the 
axils, small or narrow, often squarrose, entire or rigidly 
dentate. Lightfootias thrive in a mixture of loam, peat, 
and sand. Propagated by cuttings, made of young 
shoots, and inserted in sand, containing a little peat, 
under a bell glass; the annuals, by seed, sown in a warm 
frame, in spring. Probably the species here described 
are the only ones yet introduced. i ; 
L. ciliata (ciliated).* fl. bluish, axillary and terminal, in loose 
racemes at the tops of the branches. July. J. alternate, some- 
what reflexed, ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire. Stem decumbent, 
woody at the base, branched. Branches woody, erect, purplish. 
h. din. Cape of Good . 
1038, under name of L. tenella.) 
L. ligi diges’). A synonym of L. ciliata. : 
L. ie white, with reddish nerves, 
a ry and terminal, at the tops of the branches. July. J. alter- 
nate, reflexed, ovate- te, acute, thin, denticulated at the 
base. Stem erect or 1 3 455 much-branched; branches dif- 
fuse. h. bin. to 12in. Cape of Good Hope, 1787. 
L. sessiliflora (sessile-flowered). H. blue, numerous, terminal 
and axillary, solitary, racemose. l. alternate, rarely opposite, 
numerous, very narrow, erectish or spreading. Stem ascending or 
erect, rather woody, mostly simple or branched. h. lft. to Iift. 
Cape of Good Hope. 
L. tenella (delicate). A synonym of L. ciliata. 
LIGNUM VITE. See Guaiacum officinale. 
LIGULARIA (from ligula, a strap; referring to the 
florets). ORD. Composite. A genus comprising about 
a score species of hardy herbaceous perennials, with 
handsome leaves, now included, by Bentham and Hooker, 
under Senecio. Ligularias require generally a free, moist 
soil, and prefer a rather peaty one. Propagated by divi- 
sions, in spring and autumn. Only the undermentioned 
species are worth growing. 
L. japonica (Japanese). f.-heads yellow, small, paniculate. 
Autumn. J. stalked, glabrous, green above, paler beneath ; lower 
Hope, 1822. Syn. L. Loddigesti. (L. B. C. 
Ligularia - continued. 
ones inciso-palmate, lobes unequally dentate; upper ones undi- 
vided, serrate. Japan. Syn. Erythochete palmatifida, 
L. Kempferi aureo-maculata (Kempfer's gold-spotted).* J. 
large, orbicular-cordate, dark green, glabrous, shining, irregularly 
blotched with yellow, or sometimes with white and rose. Stems 
thick, fleshy. B. lft. to 2ft. Japan. SYNS. Farfugium grande 
and Senecio Kempferi aureo-maculata. (B. M. 5302.) 
Sil A 
Fig. 407. LIGULARIA MACROPHYLLA, showing Habit and 
detached Flower-head. * 
L. macrophylla (large-leaved). .- heads yellow, borne in a 
dense, long, terminal spike. J. oval, very large, glaucous. h. 34ft. 
Caucasus. A very large and vigorous-growing perennial, and an 
excellent plant for sub-tropical gardening. See Fig. 407. 
LIGULATE. Strap-like; having the form of a strap. 
LIGUSTICUM (named from the country Liguria, 
where the officinal Lovage, L. Levisticum, abounds). 
ORD. Umbellifere. A genus comprising about a score 
species of glabrons perennial herbs, dispersed over the 
Northern hemisphere. Flowers in compound umbels, often 
many-rayed; petals white, or rarely yellowish - white. 
Fruit ovate or oblong. Leaves pinnately or ternato-pin- 
nately decompound. L. scoticum is sometimes employed 
as a potherb. It will grow in any ordinary soil, but is 
of no horticultural value. 
L. scoticum (Scotch). Lovage. fl., umbels of twelve to twent; 
rays, with a general involucre of two or three narrow bracts ani 
more numerous ones to the partial umbels. Summer. J., lower 
ones on long stalks, deeply divided into three, each branch bearing 
three segments or one deeply three-lobed segment. Stem lft. to 
2ft. high. Britain, &c. 
LIGUSTRINA AMURENSIS. ‘See Syringa 
amurensis. 
LIGUSTRUM (the old Latin name used by Pliny, 
probably from ligare, to tie; referring to the use made 
of the flexible shoots). Privet. Syn. Visiania. ORD. 
Oleacee. A genus comprising about twenty-five species 
of ornamental, hardy, evergreen or deciduous, glabrous 
shrubs or small trees, natives of Europe, temperate 
and tropical Asia, and Australia. Flowers often white, 
disposed in trichotomous or thyrsoid terminal panicles. 
Berry scarcely drupaceous. Leaves opposite, entire. 
The species and varieties are of easy culture in almost 
any soil and situation, such as the neighbourhood of 
large towns, where a smoky atmosphere prevails, in the 
shade, or under the drip of trees. The common Privet 
grows best in a moist and strong loamy soil, and attains 
the largest size in an open situation. Propagated by 
cuttings of the young shoots, or by seeds, in the same 
manner as advised for the Hawthorn (see ). 
The former method of propagation should be employed 
with varieties. 
L. amurense (Amur). A synonym of L. Ibota. 
L. angustifolium (narrow-leaved). A garden onym of L. 
Massalongianum. Rie ge : 
