LABEL 



478 



LACHENALIA 



LABEL. Many are the forms and substances employed 

 in making labels for plants. For general use they should 

 embrace among their good qualities cheapness, durability, 

 facility of being written upon, and legibility. Strong 

 paper or parchment labels are the most suitable for 

 attachment to plants being sent from the nurseries, and 

 they should be written with pencil, indelible or otherwise, 

 because ink readily runs, and soon gets illegible by rain 

 or when otherwise wetted. For general purposes wooden 

 labels are the cheapest, and quite effective, if painted on 

 one side with white paint, not too thickly put on, and 

 written upon with pencil, while still wet. The name 

 usually lasts as long as the wood, whether indoors or 

 outside, if plainly and well written. If it is desired to 

 write the names of other plants upon the labels, while 

 the wood is still sound, they can be refaced with glass 

 or a sharp knife. Large wooden labels, meant to be of 

 a more permanent character, should be painted all over 

 to preserve them, and after they get dry, a thin second 

 coat may be given and the names written while wet. 

 The point to be inserted in the ground should be dipped 

 in creosote, gas-tar, or other preservative substance. 

 Zinc and procelain labels have also been devised, but for 

 various reasons they have not proved very satisfactory. 

 Neat cast-iron labels, with raised letters, and of various 

 design and size, are in use, and give a considerable amount 

 of satisfaction. Some of them are pierced with one or 

 two holes, so that they may be suspended with copper 

 wire, not liable to rust. Others are fitted with an iron 

 shaft, or with stout wire for inserting in the ground. 

 For Roses, fruit and ornamental trees, the names are 

 suspended or placed horizontally, and are thus easily 

 read at a glance. Very permanent labels are those made 

 of strips or oblong pieces of lead, with the names punched 

 on them, with or without paint. The lead may be 

 painted black, and the sunk letters with white paint, 

 and after a number of years these labels may be repainted. 

 Although more expensive than wooden labels, they last 

 a lifetime, and are cheapest in the end. 



LABELLUM. This term is universally applied to the 

 upper segment of the inner series of the flower of an Orchid. 

 By the twisting of the flower-stalk, the labellum or lip 

 usually assumes the lower position, and as it is larger, 

 and nearly always more highly coloured than the rest 

 of the flower, it is the most conspicuous organ. In the 

 Lipworts or Labiatae, and some others, it is customary to 

 speak of the upper and lower lips of the flower. 



LABICHJE'A. (Named after M. Labiche, a French 

 officer. Nat. ord. Leguminous Plants [Xeguminosa?]. 

 Linn. lo-Decandria, i-Monogynia. Allied to Cassia.) 



Yellow-blossomed greenhouse evergreen shrub, from 

 Swan River. Cuttings of half-ripened shoots in summer, 

 in sand, under a bell-glass ; peat and loam. Winter 

 temp., 38 to 45. 



L. bipuncta'ta (two-dotted). See L. LANCEOLATA. 

 lanceola'ta (spear -head-leaved). 4. April. 1837. 

 LABISIA. (From labis, a hook or clasp ; the segments 

 of the corolla are inflexed at the apex. Nat. ord. 

 Myrsinaceae.) 



Evergreen stove shrubs. Seeds. Loam, leaf-mould, 

 and a little sand. 

 L. ala'ia (winged), i. White and pink outside. Borneo 



and Malacca. 1886. 

 malouia'na (Malouian). i. Leaves with a feathery 



whitish-green midrib. Borneo. 1885. 

 pothoi'na (Pothos-like). i. Pink. Malaya. 1845. 

 smara'gdina (emerald-green). J. Pink. Borneo. 1892. 



LA'BLAB PERE'NNANS, L. vulga'ris, L. v. albiflo'ra, 

 and L. v. purpu'rea, are all forms of Dolichos Lablab. 



LABRADOR TEA. Le'dum. 



LABURNUM. (The old Latin name of the tree. Nat. 

 ord. Leguminosas.) 



Small, hardy, ornamental trees of great beauty, and 

 very popular. The flowers, fruits, and seeds are poison- 

 ous. L. Adami, or Cytisus Adami, is a graft-hybrid, pro- 

 duced by Jean Louis Adam in 1825, by shield-grafting 

 Cytisus purpureus on Laburnum vulgare. Branches of 



the tree frequently revert to one or other of the parents. 

 The trees are propagated by seeds, and the graft-hybrid 

 and varieties by budding and grafting. 

 L. Ada'mi (Adam's). Dusky or coppery purple. Graft- 

 hybrid. 1825. " Purple Laburnum." 



,, alpi'num (alpine). 15-30. Yellow. June. Europe. 

 1596. " Scotch Laburnum." Varieties of this are 

 au'reum, autumna'le, bi'ferum, fra' grans, grandi- 

 flo'rum, hirsu'tum, and pilo'sum. 



AlschingSri (Alschinger's). See L. VULGARE ALSCHIN- 

 GERI. 



anagyroi'des (Anagyris-like). See L. VULGARE. 



,, carama' 'nicum (Caramanian). 3-5. Yellow. June. 

 Asia Minor. 1879. 



,, sero'tinum (late). Sulphur-yellow. June. 1854. 



vulga're (common). 15-20. Yellow. May. Europe. 

 1596. " Laburnum." The following are varieties : 

 Alschinge'ri and Carlie'ri, with long racemes ; fo'liis 

 au'reis (golden), fo'liis variega'tis (variegated), 

 involu'tum (leaves coiled like rings), pe'ndulum 

 (pendulous), quercifo'lium (leaves deeply cut), and 

 setnperfto'rens (always flowering). Pa'rksii, Vo'ssii, 

 and Watere'ri are garden hybrids, with very long 

 racemes. The first named was raised about 1840. 



LABYRINTH is an arrangement of walks, inclosed by 

 hedges or shrubberies, so intricate as to be very difficult 

 to escape from. From the twelfth century to the end 

 of the seventeenth they were a very favourite portion of 

 English pleasure-ground ; but they are now more 

 judiciously banished. 



LAC^'NA. (One of the names of Helen. Nat. ord. 

 Orchids [Orchidaceas]. Linn. zo-Gynandria, i-Monandria. 

 Allied tp Govenia.) 



Divisions in spring, or after blooming ; turfy peat, 

 sphagnum, rotten wood, charcoal, and broken crocks ; 

 fixed to a block, and that built above the surface of a pot, 

 and packed with the above material, or grown in a 

 shallow, open basket. Summer temp., 60 to 90, and 

 moist ; winter, 55 to 60, and dry. 

 L. bf color (two-coloured), i. Greenish-yellow. May. 



Guatemala. 1843. 



a'lba (white). Yellowish-white. 1910. 

 specta'bilis (showy), i. Pinkish-white, spotted with 

 purple. Central Amer. 1853. 



LACA'THEA FLO'RIDA. See GORDONIA PUBESCENS. 



LACE BARE. Lage'tta lintea'ria. 



LACEPE'DEA INSI'GNIS. See TURPINIA INSIGNIS. 



LACHENA'LIA. (Named after M. de la Chenal, a 

 botanical author. Nat. ord. Lilyworts [Liliaceas]. Linn. 

 6-Hexandria, i-Monogynia. Allied to Hyacinthus.) 



All greenhouse bulbs, from South Africa. Offsets at 

 potting period, and seeds in a hotbed, in spring ; sandy 

 peat, with a little fibrous loam. Winter temp., 35 to 

 45, and dry, or the bulbs may be kept in drawers or 

 bags. They are very beautiful little plants and grow 

 freely under the above conditions, potting them whenever 

 growth commences, and watering so long as the leaves 

 are green, but no longer ; when the pots are full of 

 roots they stand gentle forcing. The small species re- 

 quire sand round their bulbs, whether in the border or 

 pots. 

 L. angui'nea (serpent), i. White. April. 1825. 



angustifo'lia (narrow-leaved). See L. CONTAMINATA. 



,, au'rea (golden). J-i. Golden-yellow. 1856. 



,, gigante'a (giant), ij. Golden-yellow. 1893. 



bifo'lia (two-leaved). See L. ISOPETALA. 



,, bowiea'na (Bowiean). . Yellow, red. 



contamina'ta (contaminated). . Pink. March. 

 1774- 



,, convallariof des (Convallaria-like). i. Purple-pink, 

 fading white. 1904. 



fistulo'sa (hollow-stemmed). $. White, tinged blue 

 and purple. 1884. 



,, fta'va (yellow). See L. TRICOLOR. 



fra'grans (sweet-scented). See L. VERSICOLOR 



FRAGRANS. 



glau'ca (milky-green). See HYACINTHUS GLAUCUS. 

 glaucfna (milkish-green). i. Green, white, red. 



May. 1795. 

 hfrta (hairy). J-J. White, flushed with red. 



