m 



I.ECAXORA. 



LEQUMINOS.K. 



now if, awarding to Bock. each plant occupies 8 O' of soil, and if we 

 reckon an inferior expenditure for the night, yet the planU on an acre 

 would rxhale 1.2UO.OOO It*, of water in ISO day*. 



" A dwarf pear-tree, according to Hair., exhaled in 10 hour* of the 

 day 15 Iba. of water. Allowing for each mob tree 20 Q' of toil, the 

 torn of an acre would exhale 8,600,000 Iba. of water, and probably 

 another third of the quantity might be added for the grate between tba 

 trwa, which would make for the acre almott 5,000,000 Iba. of water. 



"An acre of 40,000 square feet, planted with hops, exhaled in 120 

 day* 4.550,000 Iba. of water through the hop* alone. 



* A Moare foot of aoil covered with Poa <m*va exhaled, according 

 toSchubler, daily, on an average, during the aummer, 3312cubi-j 

 faahss of water : thui an acre of meadow-land would exhale about 

 ,000,0001ba." 



The (object of the food of planU and the general processes of 

 nutrition in the vegetable kingdom is described under the article SAP. 



I.KCAXORA. TLlcHEira.] 



I.KCYTHIDA'CE.E. LeeyOa, an important but small natural order 

 of Plante with angular fruit*, and very large fleshy flowers, inhabiting 

 the wood* of South America, They are regarded by De Candolle aa 

 a Mction of Myrtacnr, from which they differ in their leaves being 

 alternate, and not dotted, the stamena monadelphous, and extended 

 on on* aide, in an unuiual manner, into a broad lobe, which coven 

 over the centre of the flower like a hood. They are natives of the 

 hottest parts of South America, especially of Guyana. 



Among the plants belonging to this order are the following, which 

 deaetie particular notice : 



LyiuoUaria, a tree inhabiting the foresU of Cumana and Brazil, 

 with a hard woody fruit aa Urge as a child's head, and opening by a 

 lid like that of a jar or urn. It contains numerous large seeds, which 



i. Zapufajo. a large Guyana tree, with alternate oval leaves 12 inches 

 long, and raceme* of large fleshy red r.nd white flowers. The fruit is 

 hard, woody, urn-shaped, and about 4 inches broad by 6 inches high ; 

 it contains numerous seeds as Urge as almonds, and quite as agreeable 

 when fresh. They are sometimes seen in the fruiterers' shops in 

 London, where they are called Sapucaya Nuts. 

 JttrrAoBstia excetso, already described. rBERTiiou.ETiA.] 

 dmtmfit* Guiamemiu, or Cannon-Bail Tree. This plant takes its 

 name from its large heavy woody fruit, which, according to Aublet, 

 is about the size of a 36-pound shot, and although urn-shaped like 

 the) others, does not open by its lid, but is broken by its fall, or lies 

 on the ground till it rot*, before the seeds can extricate themselves. 

 The flowers are very large and handsome, deep rose-colour and white ; 

 the tree is of great sixe, with a trunk often more than 2 feet in 

 The shells of the fruit are used as drinking vessels. 



flower of 



Kan Tn* (OwrmyiM ffntewiuu). 



Fruit of Cannon-Ball Tree (Courouflla Guianauii). 



LEDERERITE. [CUABAZITE.] 



l.KDEKITE. [TITANIUM.] 



LEDUM, a genus of PlanU belonging to the natural order 

 Ericacca. It has a minute 4 -toothed calyx, 5 spreading petals, from 

 5 to 10 stamens, anthers opening by two pores at the apex. The cap- 

 sules are subovate, 5-celled, 5-valved, stalked, and dehiscent at the base. 

 The seeds are furnished with a membranous wing at each extremity. 



L. lot/folium is a small evergreen shrub, with an irregularly 

 branched stem. The branches and under surface of the leaves aru 

 woolly ; the calyx is very minute ; the corolla white, with obovate 

 obtuse petals. It has been commended as a stomachic ; but an 

 infusion of the leaves in beer renders it unusually heady, and produces 

 headache, nausea, and even delirium. Pallas however says that they 

 have been used with advantage in tertian agues, dysentery, and 

 diarrhoea. They have an aromatic bitter flavour. This species is a 

 native of the swamps around Hudson's Bay, Labrador, Greenland, 

 and various ports of the United States. 



L. paltutrc has linear leaves, with revolute margins, clothed with 

 rusty tomentum beneath ; it has 10 stamens, longer than the corolla. 

 It i a native of North America, in the swamps of Canada and New 

 York, also the North of Europe, Denmark, Silesia, &c. L. paluttrc 

 has somewhat similar properties to those ascribed to the former 

 species. In Germany a kind of beer is made from its leaves, and it 

 hu also been recommended aa a febrifuge. This species was formerly 

 admitted into the catalogue of British plants; but Mr. Babington 

 considers that it has no claim to appear there, and has omitted it 

 accordingly. 



Z. Canadente has ovate pctiolate leaves, white beneath ; the flowers 

 disposed in terminal large umbellate corymbs of a white hue. It is 

 a native of the swamps of Canada. A peat soil or a very sandy loam 

 answers best for the cultivation of the species of Lodum, and they 

 are readily propagated by layers or by seeds. The seeds should be 

 own, and the seedlings afterwards managed in the same manner as 

 the Rhododendron. 



(Don, Diehlamytltotu Plant! ; Burnett, Oullinei; Babington, Manual 

 of ItritM Botany.) 



LEECH. [AN.IKI.UIA.] 



I.KK.K. [ALUDaL] 



LEEKSIA, a genus of Grasses belonging to the tribe Oryzea. It 

 has 2 paleo- compressed, keeled, and awnless, the lower one much 

 broader ; stigmas protruding from the side of the florets ; nut inclosed 

 in the palest. 



L. orytoida has a patent panicle with wavy branches, spikeleU 

 triandrous, half oval, ciliated on the back. It is a creeping plant with 

 a stem one to two feet high, never procumbent, and rooting at the 



CU. The leaves are broad and rough-edged, the uppermost 

 zontal at the flowering season ; panicle rarely, if ever, protruded 

 in this country, mostly inclosed in the sheath of the uppermost leaf. 

 It is found in marsh ditches in Sussex and Hampshire. 



1/KUUMINOS.fc, or FABACE^E, a very extensive natural order 

 of PlanU, consisting of herbaceous plants, shrubs, or vast trees, 

 extremely variable in appearance. The leaves are alternate, most 

 commonly compound, occasionally marked with transparent dote; 

 petiole tumid at the base ; stipules 2 at the base of the petiole, and 

 2 at the base of each leaflet; pedicels usually articulated, with 

 2 brectleU under the flower ; calyx 5-parted, toothed, or cleft, inferior, 

 with the odd segment anterior, the segments often unequal and 

 variously combined ; petals 5, or by abortion 4, 3, 2, 1, or none, 

 ibserted into the base of the calyx, either papilionaceous or regularly 

 spreading; the odd petal, if any, posterior; stamena definite or 



