LYC 



LYS 



■the branches, on short slender peduncles, and 

 are of a pale colour with short tubes; the brims 

 are spread open, broader than either of the former 

 •orts, and the style is considerably longer than 

 the lube of the corolla. It flowers in August, 

 September, and October, retaining its leaves 

 t:Il November, and is a native of China. 



The third is able to stand upright without 

 support; differing from the above in having the 

 leaves, though lanceolate, not flat but oblique 

 or flexuose: the branchlets flexuose, not render- 

 ed angular bv a line running down from the pe- 

 tiole; the surface not smooth, but subtomciitose; 

 and finally, spines from every bud. It differs 

 from the first in having lanceolate leaves, and 

 round flexuose branehlet*. It i> a native of the 

 South of Europe. 



The fourth species is an elegant shrub, on 

 account of the whiteness of the branches, rods, or 

 twigs, which are many, a foot or eighteen inches 

 long or more, branched, ascending: the spines 

 alternate, awl-shaped, rigid, spreading, white or 

 yell wish, surrounded with leaves and flowers 

 at the base : the leaves are sessile, fleshy, blunt : 

 flowers from the upper part of the twigs among 

 the leaves, two or three to each spine, on 

 short peduncles : the berries the size of a cur- 

 rant, black and succulent. It is a native of 

 Tartary. It differs from the third sort in size, 

 and the colour and form of the flower. 



Culture. — These plants may all be increased 

 by seeds, cuttings, orlavers. 



The seeds should be sown in the autumn soon 

 after they are ripe, in pots, being plunged into an 

 old tan-bed in winter, and covered with the glasses 

 in Frosty weather; but in mild weather be open 

 to receive moisture: in the following spring the 

 pots should be plunged into a moderate hot-bed, 

 to bring up the plants, which must be inured to 

 bear the open air as soon as the danger of frost 

 is over, and when they are three inches high, 

 be shaken out of the pots, and each planted in 

 a small separate pot filled with loamy earth, 

 being placed in the shade till they have taken 

 new root, when they mav be removed to a shel- 

 tered situation, to remain till the autumn, when 

 they should be either removed into the green- 

 house, or placed under a hot-bed frame, to 

 shelter them from hard frost. They must at 

 first be kept in pots, and treated in the same 

 way a-; mvrtlcs, and other hardy grcen-honse 

 plants; but when they are grown strong, a few 

 of them mav be planted out in the open ground 

 in warm situations, where they stand moderate 

 winters, but are commonly destroyed by hard 

 frosts. 



The cuttings should be made from the young 

 thoots, and be planted in a shadv border in Julv, 

 Vol. II. 



being duly watered; and when they have talccri 

 root, be treated in the same way as the seedbuo 

 plants. This is the usual mode of increasing 



them, as some sorts never produce seeds in this 

 climate. 



In the third sort the cuttings should be plant- 

 ed in the spring, in an eastern border; and the 

 plants should not be removed till the autumn, 

 when they may be planted to cover walls, as the 

 branches are too weak to support themselves. 



The third varietv may also be increased b\' 

 dividing and planting its creeping roots. 



Tlie layers must be nude from the young 

 branches, and be laid down in the spring; and 

 when rooted in the autumn, taken off, and ma- 

 naged as in the other methods. 



The hardy sorts afford varietv in warm situa- 

 tions in the open ground, and the other sorts 

 among trreen-hmise collections. 



LYSIMACHIA, a genus containing plants 

 of the hardy herbaceous biennial and perennial 

 kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Pentamlria 

 Monogynia, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Rotdct-a-. 



The characters arc : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianthiuni, acute, erect, permanent : 

 the corolla one-petalled, wheel-shaped : tube 

 none: border five-parted, flat : divisions ovate- 

 oblong: the stamina have five awl-shaped iila* 

 ments, opposite to the divisions of the corolla : 

 anthers acuminate : the pistillum is a roundi-K 

 germ : style filiform, the length of the stamens : 

 stigma obtuse : the pericarpium is a globular 

 capsule, mucronate, cue -celled, ten-valved 

 (five-valved) : the seeds very many, and angu- 

 lar: the receptacle globular, very large, dotted, 

 (free.) 



The species cultivated are : 1. L. Epltemcrum, 

 Willow-leaved Loose- strife ; 2. L. dulia, Pur- 

 ple-flowered Loose-strife; 3. L. strata, Up- 

 right Loose-strife. 



The first has a perennial root: the stems st- 

 veral, upright, more than three feet high : the 

 leaves narrow, smooth, and at the base of these 

 come out short side branches, with smaller 

 leaves of the same shape: the flowers are pro- 

 duced in a long close upright spike, at the top 

 of the stalk : the corolla is white : the stamens 

 longer than the corolla. It is very distinct from 

 the second sort bv its size, five-valved capsuli -, 

 white flowers, and leaves without dots. It is a 

 native of Spain, flowering from Julv to Sep- 

 teniber. 



The second species is an annual (biennial) 

 plant, too tender for the open air of this cli- 

 mate: it agrees with the Srsl sort in habit, 

 structure, and glaucous colour: it has no. dots 

 M 



