i il 
AN ENCYCLOPADIA 
287 
OF HORTICULTURE. 
LITHRZEA. See Rhus. 
LITOBROCHIA. See Pteris. 
LITSEA (from the Japanese name). Syn. Tetran- 
thera. Including Tetradenia. ORD. Laurinee. A 
large genus (upwards of 140 species have been de- 
scribed) of greenhouse or half - hardy trees, rarely 
shrubs, natives of tropical and Eastern Asia, from the 
Malayan Archipelago to Japan, tropical and sub-tropical 
Australia, New Zealand and New Caledonia, and (a few) 
North America. Flowers dicecious, umbellate or capitate ; 
involucres globose, pedicellate or sessile, disposed in 
sessile or shortly pedunculate fascicles, or in axillary or 
lateral racemes. Leaves alternate, few, or rarely almost 
opposite, penniveined or triplinerved. Few of the species 
are grown in this country. For culture, see Laurus. 
L. geniculata (jointed). jl. yellow, polygamous, disposed in ter- 
minal, few-flowered umbels ; pedicels short. May. 1. deciduous, 
lanceolate, glabrous. Branches deep red, divaricately flexuous. 
h. 6ft. South United States, 1759. Half-hardy. SYN. Laurus 
geniculata (under which name it is figured in B. M. 1471). 
L. glauca (glaucous). AH. whitish, as large as a hazel-nut, 
in dense branched clusters. Summer. /. lanceolate-oblong, 
acuminate, green above, silvery beneath. Japan. A handsome 
bush for cool conservatory decoration. 
L. japonica (Japanese). R. white; umbels fasciculated, shortly 
peduncled ; involucre five to nine-flowered. J. rigid, coriaceous, 
oblong or oblong-lanceolate, glabrous or shining above, ferru- 
ginous or tomentose beneath. h. 3ft. Japan, 1843. Half-hardy. 
(S. Z. F. J. 87, 100.) 
LITTÆA. This is now included, by Bentham and 
Hooker, as a section of Agave. 
LITTONIA (named after Dr. S. Litton, once Pro- 
fessor of Botany at Dublin). ORD. Liltacec. A genus 
comprising only two species, one a native of Natal, and 
the other of Angola. Flowers orange, showy, nodding; 
pedicels short, solitary, axillary, ebracteate. Lower leaves 
ternate or quinate, sub-verticillate; upper ones sub-op- 
posite or scattered, lanceolate, acuminate. Stems flexuous, 
simple, leafy. L. modesta—the only species yet intro- 
duced—is an elegant stove or greenhouse plant, very like | 
Gloriosa in habit and general appearance. For culture, 
see Gloriosa. 
Fig. 456. LITTONIA MODESTA, showing Top of Flowering Shoot 
and detached Flower. 
L. modesta (modest).* f. rich orange, bell-shaped, axillary. 
Early summer. J. bright shining green, terminated by a tendril. 
h. 2ft. to 6ft. South Africa, 1855. A pretty plant for growing 
against a pillar. See Fig. 456. (B. M. 4723.) 
LITTORAL. Growing on the sea-shore. 
LITUATE. Forked, with the points a little turned 
outwards. 
LIVISTONA (named in honour of P. Murray, once 
of Livingston, near Edinburgh). Syn. Saribus. ORD. 
Palme. A genus comprising fourteen species of very 
Livistona—continued. 
ornamental mostly stove palms, with unarmed stems, 
natives of Eastern tropical Asia, the Malayan Archi- 
pelago, New Guinea, and Eastern Australia. Flower- 
spikes branching, with several incomplete, leathery 
spathes. . Leaves terminal, fan-shaped, divided into 
numerous segments, which are split at the apex, and 
frequently have threads hanging between them ; footstalks 
sheathed at the base in a mass of netted fibres. The 
species thrive in a compost of two parts loam and one of 
peat, to which a little sand may be added. A liberal 
supply of water is needed throughout the summer. 
Several species are admirably adapted for various decora- 
tive. purposes, and especially for sub-tropical gardening. 
Propagated by seeds, which should be sown in sandy 
soil, and placed in a gentle bottom heat. 
(very tall). 7. bright shining green, fan-shaped, 
L. altissima lining | 1 
1}ft. to 2ft. from top of petiole to margin, divided into segments 
about one-third of the way down, each segment bifid at the apex ; 
petiole 2ft. to 6ft. long, the upper part green, base brown, 
inclosed in a reddish-brown network of woody fibres, and 
peers each edge with stout and sharp recurved black spines. 
ava, . 
— — 
FIG. 457, LAVISTONA AUSTRALIS. 
australis (Southern).* 7. dark green, nearly circular, much 
plaited, divided round the edge into narrow plicate segments; 
petioles stout, dark brown, inclosed in a network of fibrous 
matter at the base, and armed at the edges with stout spines. 
h. 80ft. Eastern Australia, 1824. Syn. Corypha australis.. See 
Fig. 457. (B. M. 6274.) ; 
L. chinensis (Chinese).* l. large, over 5ft, broad, fan-shaped, 
with pendent marginal segments; petiole; Aft. to 5ft. long, 
- rounded below, flat above; edges armed with short reflex spines, 
enveloped at the base in a network of brown fibrous tissue. 
X 50ft. South China, 1818. A well-known and very handsome 
