Varieties of this genus are to be found in Japan, Mexico, 

 &.c. Several species, with white flowers, are scattered all 

 over the United States. 



The common Laurustinus of our green-houses, is a na- 

 tive of Spain, Portugal, and Italy. A shrub never above five 

 feet high, spreading widely, twigs smooth, dark red ; leaves 

 ovate, entire, dark green above, veiny, with glandular hairs 

 at the origin of each large vein; flowers tinged with red, of 

 one petal, bell-shaped, cut halfway down; berries blue. 



LAVENDER. 



Lavandula. 



Lavandula, from the Latin word lavo, to wash, or be- 

 sprinkle, alluding to its ancient use in baths, or fomentations; 

 or to its distilled water, in more modern times. 



A genus known and esteemed in our gardens and green- 

 houses. All are shrubby, with blue or purplish, occasionally 

 white, fragrant, spiked flowers. Their foliage likewise aro- 

 matic, generally of a grey, or hoary-green, narrow, either 

 simple or compound. The spike is supported on a longish, 

 naked, square stalk. Perianth of one leaf; corolla monope- 

 talous, ringent, reversed: native of Africa, Europe, Sic. 



The common Lavender, L. Spica, cultivated for the 

 sake of its scent, when dried; and the essential oil and distil- 

 led water which is made from it. To be " laid up in Laven- 

 der," is become proverbial for any thing stored up with pe- 

 culiar care. 



LEMON. 

 Citrus Limon. 

 Citrus, derivation unknown. (Bees' Cyclopedia.) 



Citrus, a citron-tree, growing upon Mount Atlas, in 

 Africa, of the wood of which they made tables at Rome. 

 Also, another sort which bore fruit of an excellent grateful 

 smell. Jl lemon or orange tree, a pome-citrul, Plin. 



[See JHnsworth.~\ 



Skinner tells ue, the word citron is like the thing itself; 

 of Persian or Moorish origin. 



In Lemon's English etymology we find " Citron, Greek, 

 XIT^IOV, a citron apple, a fruit brought from Media." And in 

 the same book, under the word Lemon, we are told that " Ju- 

 nius supposes, with great justness, that it ought to be written 

 limon: and, after quoting the word in several languages, in 

 which it appears always limon, he says, they suppose it to be 

 from the Greek word \i^o s , hunger, because it sharpens 

 hunger." 



" Lemon, from the French gallic limon Italian limone 

 Lemone, perhaps all from the Greek K>^KV } a meadow, a 

 garden, as if it were said the ornament of the garden." 



[See Skinner.] 



The genus citrus comprehends plants of the citron, le- 

 mon, and orange-tree kinds. 



The common Lemon, Citrus limon, and lime, C. Jlcris, 

 are, by botanists, referred to one species. They, as well as 

 the orange, are natives of the East, now naturalized in all 

 warm climates. 



The lime is said to grow to the height of from twelve 

 to fourteen feet. Its fruit is esteemed a much more grateful 

 acid than that of the lemon; and in the West Indies, where 



they are most cultivated, the lemon is in little repute, and 

 seldom used. From the varieties of the lime, the powerful 

 perfume called Bergamot, is obtained; which is said to have 

 derived its name from Bergamo, in Italy. 



The flowers of the genus citrus, have a one-leafed, five- 

 cleft calyx, small and withering; petals five, oblong, and 

 spreading. The leaf of the lemon is ovate-lanceolate, acu- 

 minate, somewhat serrated. 



LICHEN; or, TREE MOSS. 



Lichen, a name borrowed by the Romans from the 

 Greeks, for the disease called the tetter, or ringworm, and 

 applied to some plants of a mossy nature. 



They are fleshy or leather-like substances growing on 

 rocks, trees, and old buildings: the most common species 

 may be observed in the form of a rough yellow and bluish 

 crust, on gooseberry bushes, and old palings, to which they 

 impart a picturesque appearance. 



They are called Rock moss, or Tree moss; some of the 

 Liver-worts are of this order. 



They, also, include the Iceland moss, now much used in 

 medicine; and the Reindeer moss, of Lapland, which grows 

 to the height of a foot, and is the principal food of the noble 

 animal whose name it bears. But they are entirely distinct 

 from the true mosses, (Musci.) 



Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow 

 O'er Conway, listening to the surge below; 

 Retiring Lichen climbs the topmost stone, 

 And drinks the aerial solitude alone 



Bright shine the stars, unnumber'd, o'er her head, 

 And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed; 

 While, round the rifted rocks, hoarse whirlwinds breathe, 

 And dark with thunder sail the clouds beneath. 



Darwin. 



This plant is the first that vegetates on naked rocks cov- 

 ering them with a kind of tapestry, and draws its nourish- 

 ment, perhaps chiefly from the air. Darwin. 



The Lichen which grows on the bark of the White Oak 

 tree is, in medical books, called lung-icort, as it is there 

 said from its resemblance to the lungs, or rather, perhaps, 

 from its being used in diseases of the lungs. It is said to pos- 

 sess the same qualities as the Iceland moss, so celebrated in 

 the cure of pulmonary consumption. 



LILAC. 



Syringa. 



Lilac, of Turkish origin. French lilas Sp. lilac. 



Syringa, so called by Linnaeus, from o-uen-yj, <ru ? vyj'0{, 

 Greek for a pipe, on account of the use which the Turks 

 make of its straight and tubular branches, when deprived of 

 the pith, for tobacco pipes. 



" It is called in Barbary Seringa. It may well be ima- 

 gined that this African word came from the Greek; and ori- 

 ginated in the resemblance of the branches to a reed. We 

 have no doubt that Linnseus had both words in view." 



The name may possibly owe its origin to the nymph Sy- 



