536 LEYCESTERIA. THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. LIGUSTRUM. 



the score around the old plants. Sow 

 while quite fresh. Oregon, Utah, and 

 Rocky Mountains. 



LEYCESTERIA ( Flowering Nutmeg] . 

 L. formosa is a distinct flowering 

 shrub, and hardy, but much commoner 

 in Ireland and the west than in the 

 home counties. It is graceful in flower 

 and form, and reaches 6 feet high in 

 mild districts, with white flowers tinged 

 with purple ; the leafy purple bracts, 

 succeeded in autumn by purple berries, 

 are eaten by pheasants, and therefore 

 it is planted in some places for covert. 

 It thrives in various soils, and under 

 trees. Himalayas. 



LIATRIS (Snakeroot). N. American 

 perennials of some beauty, having 

 the flower - heads arranged in long 

 dense spikes. Some are effective 

 border flowers when well grown, and 

 well repay good cultivation. L. 

 elegans grows about 2 feet high, and 

 has pale purple spikes i foot or more in 

 length. L. pycnostachya, 4 to 6 feet 

 high, has deep purple flower-spikes 

 from August to October. L. spicata 

 is one of the handsomest and neatest, 

 growing 3 feet high, and its violet- 

 purple spikes continue long in beauty. 

 L. scaiiosa, squarrosa, cylindracea, 

 elegans, and pumila much resemble 

 the foregoing, and, like them, succeed 

 in any rich light soil, and are best here 

 and there in among peat-loving shrubs 

 or in good borders. Propagated by 

 division in spring or by seed. 



LIBERTIA. Beautiful plants of the 

 Iris order, of which some are hardy 

 enough for the open border. L. for- 

 mosa is beautiful at all seasons, even 

 in the depth of winter, owing to the 

 colour of its foliage, which is as green 

 as the Holly ; and it bears spikes of 

 flowers of snowy whiteness like some 

 delicate Orchid. It is neat, dwarf, and 

 compact, and has flowers twice as 

 large as the other kinds. They lie 

 close together on the stem, and remind 

 one of the old double white Rocket. 

 L. ixioides, a New Zealand plant, is 

 also a handsome evergreen species, 

 with narrow grassy foliage and small 

 white blossoms. L. magellanica is 

 also pretty when in flower. All of 

 these thrive in borders of peaty soil, 

 but they grow slowly on certain loamy 

 soils, living perhaps, but never showing 

 the freedom and grace which they do 

 on peaty soils. Increased by seed or 

 by careful division in spring. 



LIBROCEDRUS (Incense Cedar}. 

 L. decurrens is a handsome evergreen 

 tree of the mountains of Oregon and 

 N. California, being very distinct in- 

 habit and found in the Sierra Nevada 

 as high as 8,000 or 9,000 feet, is likely 

 to prove a tree that will last in our 

 climate. It is a beautiful tree for 

 grouping with the choicer Pines ; more 

 columnar in habit than most, it 

 does not require the wide spacing 

 too often given to our trees in the 

 pinetum. This tree, more than most 

 other Pines, illustrates the mistake of 

 supposing that conifers should be 

 clothed to the ground with branches, 

 as the natural habit of such trees is 

 often to shed their branches as other 

 trees shed their leaves. In its native 

 country the stem of this tree is often 

 quite free and clear of branches to a 

 height of 70 feet, and this instead of 

 taking from the beauty of the tree 

 really adds to it. 



LIGULARIA. Large perennials, 

 remarkable for bold foliage, one or 

 two of great size, and strikingly dis- 

 tinct aspect, though not quite beautiful 

 in flower. L. macrophylla is vigorous, 

 with an erect stem nearly 3^ feet high, 

 and very large glaucous leaves, the 

 yellow flowers borne in a long spike. 

 Free, moist, and somewhat peaty soil 

 is the most suitable for this plant, 

 which is multiplied by careful division 

 in autumn or in spring ; it is useful for 

 grouping with fine-leaved herbaceous 

 plants, but will seldom find a place in 

 the select flower garden. Caucasus. 

 L. sibirica, Fisc\eri, and thyrsoidea 

 are fine-leaved plants, and worth grow- 

 ing with L. macrophylla for their foli- 

 age. The Japanese species, L. Kcemp- 

 feri and H-odgsoni, are better grown 

 under glass, except in summer, when 

 they may be used among fine-leaved 

 plants, in the sub-tropical garden ; 

 but the hardy kinds are most interest- 

 ing. Syn. Senecio. 



LIGUSTRUM (Privet}. The meanest 

 of all mean shrubs, I think, but popular 

 beyond all others, its weed-like facility 

 of increase making it dear to those 

 to whom something growing with a 

 fungus-like rapidity is a treasure. It 

 is not only that Privets are poor in 

 themselves, and as a rule without 

 beauty of leaf or flower, but it is the 

 number of beautiful shrubs they shut 

 out, millions being annually sold to 

 take the places of better things, and 

 helping to kill the few that are planted 

 near them or among them. The com- 



