LAG 



LAN 



baged. The fully cabbaged Lettuces are also 

 excellent tor stewing and for soups, as well as 

 many other purposes. 



LADANUM. Sec Cistus. 

 LADIES' BOWER. Sec Clematis. 

 LADIES' MANTLE. Sec Alchemiixa. 

 LADIES' SLIPPER! See Ovpripedium. 

 LAGERSTROEMIA, a genus containing a 

 plant of the exotic tree kind, for the green- 

 house. 



It belongs to the class and order Icosandria 

 J\lonogijnia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 SaUcarite. 



The characters are: that the calyx is a one- 

 leafed, six-cleft, bell-shaped perianthium, rather 

 acute, smooth, permanent ; the corolla has six 

 ovate, obtuse petals, crisped, undulated, con- 

 torted : claws filiform, longer than the calyx, 

 inserted into the receptacle : the stamina have 

 very many filiform filaments, longer than the 

 calyx, inserted into the calyx below the germ : 

 the six exterior ones arc twice the thickness of 

 the rest, and arc longer than the petals : anthers 

 oval, incumbent : the pistillum is a subglobose 

 germ : style filiform, length of the longer sta- 

 mens : stigma simple : the pericarpium is a sub- 

 globose capsule, crowned with the style on its 

 bluntish top, six-furrowed, six-celled, six-valv- 

 ed, the dissepiments coalescing with the su- 

 tures : the seed several, ovate, awl-shaped at 

 the base, compressed, adhering to a central 

 hexagonal pillar. 



The species cultivated is L. Iudica. 

 It has the trunk about a fathom high, or 

 somewhat more, smooth all over : the branches 

 alternate, somewhat angular, flexuose, rigid, 

 spreading: the branchlets four-cornered: the 

 leaves alternate, subsessile, on the twigs ovate, 

 on the branches oblong, obtuse, entire, nerved, 

 stiffish, from half an inch to an inch in length : 

 the flowers in a decompound, trichotomous, 

 naked, spreading panicle at the ends of the 

 twigs. Jt is a native of the East Indies, &c. 

 flowering from August to October. 



Culture. — This plant is capable of being in- 

 creased cither by layers or cuttings of the young 

 branches. 



The layers should be made from the young 

 shoots of the preceding summer, and be laid 

 down in the autumn. When they are well 

 rooted in the succeeding autumn, they should 

 be taken off and planted out in separate pots. 



The slips or cuttings should be made from 

 shoots of the same year's growth, and be plant- 

 ed out early in the summer, in pots of light 

 earth, being plunged in a bark hot-bed, and co- 

 veted with small bell hand-glasses, due shade 

 and water being giveo. When well rooted in 



the spring following, they may be taken up and 

 planted in separate pots, filled with light mould, 

 being afterwards managed as other green-hutisc 

 plants. 



They afford variety in collections of potted 

 plants. 



LAGOECIA, a genus containing a plant of 

 the herbaceous kind. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentcmdria 

 Monogipiui, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Umbeuatce or Umbelliferce. 



The characters are: that the calyx is an uni- 

 versal involucre, eight-leaved : leaflets feather- 

 toothed, ciliated, reflex, containing the umbel- 

 lule: involucre proper four-leaved : leaflets hair- 

 feathered, involving a single footstalk shorter 

 than the leaflet itself: perianthium proper five- 

 leaved, hair many-cleft, superior : the corolla 

 has five two-horned petals, shorter than the ca- 

 lyx : the stamina have five capillary filaments, 

 length of the corolla : anthers roundish : the 

 pistillum is a roundish germ, below the recep- 

 tacle of the perianthium : stvle length of sta- 

 mens : stigmas two, the one truncated : there is 

 no pericarpium : the seeds solitary, ovate-ob- 

 long, crowned bv the perianthium. 



The species is L. cuminoides, Wild or Bastard 

 Cumin. 



It is an annual plant, about a foot hioh : the 

 leaves resemble those of Moneywort: the flowers 

 are collected into spherical heads at the extre- 

 mity of the stalks, and are of a greenish yellow 

 colour: the fruit is small, pediccllcd, ovate- 

 acuminate, crowned with a ciliate calyx, villose, 

 one seed only ripening, the other abortive, and 

 fixed laterally to the apex of the other, like a 

 withered scalelet : the fertile seed is of a duskv 

 black colour, sprinkled all over with hoar)' vil- 

 lose hairs, convex on one side, with five capil- 

 lary raised whitish streaks, flattish on the other, 

 with three very slender streaks, marking .out 

 the place of the abortive seed, which is con- 

 stantly and easily found when the fruit is well 

 softened in water. It is a native of the Levant, 

 flowering in June and July. 



Culture. — These plants may be increased by 

 sowing the seeds in autumn, on a warm border, 

 soon after they are ripe, or where thev are to re- 

 main ; or when permitted to scatter, they come 

 up and form good plants. They afterwards re- 

 quire only to be kept clean from weeds, and in 

 the former cases planted out, when of sufficient 

 growth, where they are to grow. 



They afford ornament and variety in the bor- 

 ders and other parts of shrubberies. 



LAMB'S LETTUCE. See Valeriana. 

 LANTANA, a genus containing plants of the 

 shrubby, exotic, green-house, and stove kinds. 



