356 ODOROGRAPHIA. 
In Spain the therapeutic properties of L. dentata are alleged to 
be even more marked than in the oils of any of the other species 
of lavender. In odour this oil strongly suggests rosemary and 
camphor. Its sp. gr. is 0°926 at 15°C. It distils almost com- 
pletely between 170° and 200° C. 
Although L. Stechas was well known to the ancients, no allusion 
unquestionably referring to L. vera has been found in the writings 
of classical authors ; the earliest mention of it beg in the 12th 
century, in the writings of St. Hildegard. It was known to the 
Welsh physicians in the 13th century under the name of Liafant 
or Llafantly. 
The best variety of L. vera (and there are several, although un- 
named), imvroved by cultivation in England, presents the appear- 
ance of an evergreen undershrub of about 2 feet in height, with 
greyish-green linear leaves, rolled under at the edges when young ; 
the branches are erect and give a bushy appearance to the plant ; 
the flowers are borne on a spike composed of 6 to 10 verticillasters, 
more widely separated towards the base of the spike. In young 
plants 2 or 4 sub-spikes will branch alternately in pairs from the 
main spike; this indicates great vigour in the plant, and the 
flowering tendency is then so great that if these spikes are nipped 
off others immediately throw out. This strength rarely occurs 
after the second year of flowering. 
The floral leaves are rhomboidal, acuminate, and membranous, 
tbe upper ones being shorter than the, calyces; the bracts are 
obovate; the calyces bluish, nearly cylindrical, contracted towards 
the mouth, and ribbed with many ves. ‘The corolla is of a pale 
bluish violet, of a deeper tint on the inner surface than the outer, 
tubular, 2-lipped, the upper lip with 2 and the lower with 3 lobes. 
Both the corolla and calyx are covered with stellate hairs, amongst 
which are imbedded shining oil-glands, to which the fragrance of 
the plant is due. These glands are fractured by very slight 
pressure, and then the fragrance is perceptible, but not otherwise, 
unless it be from remnants of oil from glands previously fractured 
by handling the flower or friction of one spike against another. 
The L. vera was identified in 1541 and introduced into England 
in 1568, flourishing remarkably well under cultivation and yielding 
an oil far superior in delicacy of fragrance to that obtained from 
the wild plant, or from the same plant cultivated in any other 
country. In a favourable locality a single plant will form a bush 
