MY SHRUBS 67 



tracted from the bark. I have partaken of a decoction of sassafras 

 myself, but it did not renew my youth, and could by no possibility 

 have been mistaken for beer. Otherwise I should have persisted 

 with it. L. Benzoin, known also as hinder a Benzoin, the Benja- 

 min bush from North America, is another neat, deciduous laurel, 

 with aromatic scent and inconspicuous yellow flowers which 

 appear before the foliage. 



For Lavatera I care not. It grows enormously and straggles 

 helplessly. Anon it becomes top-heavy, and sags in the ground. 

 It is a hysterical, excitable plant, always growing and crying for 

 attention. 



Lavendula dentata, grown by a friend from La Mortala seed, 

 seems hardy, and is an ornamental early flowering bush ; while 

 L. StoechaSy another Mediterranean lavender, is said to be 

 quite hardy. L. vera 1 collected in a neat form upon the hills 

 above Grasse. The blossom is smaller and paler than gardeners' 

 varieties. The white-flowered lavender, too, is good to grow. 



Ledum latifolium is a little shrub from Canada and Green- 

 land's icy mountains. The flowers are white in close umbels 

 and the whole plant seldom exceeds eighteen inches in height. 

 This Labrador tea is a peat lover, and would probably enjoy 

 more sunshine than it receives with me. A good specimen is a 

 beautiful sight. Mine improves yearly in a bed of Tiarella. 

 Ledum (or Leiophyllum) huxijolium likes shade, and succeeded 

 well for some years with me ; then the exceedingly charming 

 dwarf passed. 



Leonotis leonurus, the Lion's ear combined with the Lion's 

 tail — named a phlomis of old — is a remarkable and splendid 

 shrubby thing from the Cape of Good Hope. Its whorls of 



