]08 glenny's handbook 



of flowering shoots. There is no difficulty in cultivating the 

 plant, which, when established, should be grown in rich loam. 

 AVith this and other similar free-growing plants it is better to 

 raise young ones annually than to attempt to prune back or 

 otherwise renovate the old specimens. They are chiefly to be 

 preserved to furnish cuttings in the spring. 



LEOPARD'S BAXE. See Dorontcum. 



LEPISMIUM. [Cactaceae.J A small genus of minute- 

 flowered cactaceous plants, requiring the treatment of Epi- 

 phyllum, Cereus, &c. 



LEPTOCERAS. [Orchidacege.] Greenhouse terrestrial 

 orchids. Soil, peat, leaf-mould, and sand. Increased by 

 division. 



LEPTOSIPHON. [Polemoniace^.] Beautiful dwarf 

 annuals, forming very pretty objects in clumps and beds, but 

 not very long-lived ; and, moreover, the blooms look untidy 

 as soon as they begin to decline. The seeds may be sown in 

 the open air in March or April, and should be sown thinly, 

 because they then grow much more vigorously. They will 

 grow in poor soil, and do as well as any of the annuals in the 

 common borders ; but to have them in perfection they should 

 be grown in a very light rich soil, such as one-half veiy rotten 

 cowdung mixed with good garden earth. In the beds of 

 geometrical gardens, where they have to show a mass of 

 flowers, they should be thinned very evenly to about two 

 inches apart all over the space, because in beds which form 

 parts of a connected figure there must not be vacancies, nor 

 must the plants be too much drawn by being close together. 

 In patches the least quantity is about what could be sown in 

 a pot. Many adopt the veiy good plan of sowing annuals in 

 pots, and bedding them out afterwards, for the sake of having 

 the patches uniform. 



LEPTOSPERMUM. South Sea Myrtle. [Myrtaceee.] 

 Neat greenhouse evergreen shrubs, which may be grown 

 exactly in the same manner as Metrosideros. Soil, peat and 

 loam. Increased by cuttings under a bell-glass in sand, or 

 by seeds. Some of them will succeed against a conservatory 

 wall. 



LESCHENAULTIA. [Goodeniacere.] Small evergreen 

 greenhouse shrubs of a very ornamental character. To pro- 



