18 LESPEDEZALEUCOTHOE 



plant will form a mass 10 ft. or more across, the outer stems arching outwards. 

 It is not suitable for planting by itself y in large groups in conspicuous places, 

 as it starts into growth late in the season and is still bare of leafage when 

 many things are in their full spring greenery. The old dead stems must 

 be cut away in spring. Propagated by pulling or chopping the root-stock 

 into smaller pieces about April. Pieces small enough, with root attached, 

 may be potted and placed in a house where there is bottom heat. 



LEUCOTHOE. ERICACEAE. 



A genus of evergreen and deciduous shrubs, found in N. America and 

 Japan. The leaves are alternate; flowers in racemes, white, or slightly 

 pink-tinted. Calyx of five free, or nearly free, sepals ; corolla cylindrical 

 or pitcher-shaped, five-toothed at the top. Stamens ten, enclosed within 

 the corolla. Seed-vessel a round flattened capsule. 



The chief cultural need of the Leucothoes is a moist peaty soil, or 

 a sandy loam with abundant leaf-soil added. L. Catesbaei thrives very 

 well in semi-shade, and may be propagated by division. 



EVERGREEN. 



1. Davisice. Racemes erect, nearly terminal. 



2. Catesbcei. Racemes axillary along the shoot, nodding ; petioles up to in. long. 



3. Axillaris. Racemes axillary along the shoot, nodding ; petioles in. or less long. 



DECIDUOUS. 



4. Racemosa. Anthers with four awns ; capsule not lobed. 



5. Recurva. Anthers with two awns ; capsule five-lobed. 



L. AXILLARIS, D. Don. 



(Andromeda axillaris, Lamarck?) 



An evergreen shrub, 2 to 4 ft. high, with spreading branches zigzagged 

 towards the end, clothed with very short down when young. Leaves leathery, 

 ovate-lanceolate, 2 to 4^ ins. long, f to i ins. wide ; usually abruptly 

 pointed, spine-toothed, dark glossy green and smooth above, pale and with 

 scattered hairs beneath ; stalk in. or less long. Flowers produced during 

 April and May in axillary racemes I to 2 ins. long, crowded, and very shortly 

 stalked. Corolla white, cylindrical or pitcher-shaped, narrowing slightly 

 towards the mouth, where are five ovate teeth ; sepals ovate ; flower-stalks 

 minutely downy. 



Native of the south-eastern United States from Virginia southwards ; 

 introduced in 1765. It is not so common in cultivation as L. Catesbasi, 

 which it much resembles, and with which it is much confused. Its leaves, 

 however, are comparatively shorter and broader, and abruptly pointed ; 

 their stalks are also shorter, and the sepals are broader. Coming from the 

 lowlands of Virginia, Florida, etc., it is much less hardy than L. Catesbcei, 

 which inhabits the mountains. Personally, I have only seen one or two 

 plants, and they were not in good health. A dwarf form of L. Catesbasi is 

 usually offered for it. 



L. CATESB.EI, A. Gray. 



(Andromeda Catesbaei, Walter?) 



An evergreen shrub, 2 to 6 ft. high, with slender, arching, zigzagged 

 branches, which when young are reddish, and covered with a very short down. 



