LAVANDUL A -LAVATERA 11 



LAVANDULA SPICA, Cav ant lies. LAVENDER. LABIATE. 



An evergreen, bushy shrub, 3 or 4 ft. high, with erect branches that 

 are square when young, the whole plant covered with a close minute 

 down which gives it a grey or, when the parts are quite young, a whitish, 

 aspect ; bark peeling. Leaves opposite, linear or slightly broadened 

 towards the end, i J to 2 ins. long, ^ to in. wide, blunt, margins recurved. 

 Flowers produced in July and August, at the top of slender, erect stalks 

 up to 1 8 ins. long; they are arranged in whorls, crowded in dense spikes 

 i to 2 ins. long. Corolla tubular at the base, J in. long, pale grey-blue, 

 two-lipped at the mouth ; calyx tubular, ribbed, J in. long, downy, of a 

 deeper shade than the corolla. 



Native of the Mediterranean region, known to have been cultivated 

 in Britain since the middle of the sixteenth century, probably long before. 

 This is the common lavender of gardens, a plant whose charm no other 

 excels. Its flowers appear when few shrubs are in bloom, and their 

 fragrance is, perhaps, more prized than that of any other except the rose. 

 It is remarkably enduring ; as I write, some dried flowering sprays gathered 

 over thirty years ago fill the room with their fragrance. The leaves have 

 a fragrance similar to that of the flowers, but not so strong and pure. 

 The lavender likes a warm, sunny spot, and a soil rather light than heavy. 

 A dense compact habit is induced by clipping the plants over every spring 

 before growth commences. It is easily increased by cuttings made in 

 August and placed under a bell-glass or in a cold frame. 



L. VERA, De Candolle. In former times this lavender does not appear to 

 have been recognised as distinct from L. Spica. De Candolle, who first 

 separated it and gave it the present name in 1815, points out its differences as 

 follows : Leaves linear or narrowly oblong, never becoming wedge-shaped or 

 spathulate, as is frequent in L. Spica ; usually ^ to J in. wide, greener. At 

 the base of each whorl of flowers is a pair of bracts, oval with tapered points ; 

 in proportion to their length they are thrice as broad as those of L. Spica. He 

 observes, too, that the spike is simple (unbranched), but that is not the case 

 in cultivation. L. vera is the superior" plant for yielding lavender oil. At 

 Mitcham, in Surrey, an ancient industry is that of growing it in fields, the 

 spikes being hawked about London and bought by housewives for scenting 

 bed-linen. They are also made into lavender water. L. Spica yields the Oil 

 of Spike, which is darker and less agreeable in odour than that obtained from 

 L. vera. A white-flowered variety, ALBA, and a neat dwarf one, NANA, both 

 appear to belong to L. vera. 



LAVATERA ARBOREA, Linnceus. TREE MALLOW. MALVACE^. 



A shrub up to 6 or 8 ft. high, with stout, erecr^. woody, annual or 

 biennial stems, i to 2 ins. thick, and resembling a small tree in form. 

 Leaves long-stalked, very variable in size, from 3 to 9 ins. long, and as 

 much broad ; they are five- to seven-lobed, the lobes unequally round- 

 toothed at the margins ; the base heart-shaped ; both surfaces are densely 

 covered with soft hairs. Flowers borne very abundantly ; covering as 

 much as i \ to 2 ft. of the terminal part of the branches, some on short 



