AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



223 



Labels continued. 



rendered useless. Zinc is usually written on with an 

 indelible ink, consisting of a solution of snlphate of 

 copper, and applied with a quill pen or pointed piece 

 of wood ; but Labels made of it are frequently far 

 from satisfactory. The sizes may be indefinite when 

 wood is used, and, by careful painting and preparation, 

 the Labels may be rendered very durable. If- only 

 required for ordinary use, a little white paint on one 

 side will suffice. Any name may be easily erased with 

 a piece of glass, and the Label used for other plants 

 until it decays. Before permanently placing wooden 

 Labels in the open ground, they should be painted all 

 over and dried, adding a second coat at the time of 

 writing, and then finally dipping the part intended for 

 insertion in the ground into creosote, gas-tar, or any 

 other preservative solution. 



LABIAT.2E. An extensive order of herbs, shrubs, or 

 sub-shrubs, rarely arborescent or scandent, found chiefly 

 in temperate regions of the Old World. Flowers in the 

 axils of leaves or bracts, solitary or geminate, or in clus- 

 tered centrifugal cymes, which form false whorls by their 

 union in pairs, and are scattered, or crowded into spikes ; 

 calyx persistent, tubular, dentate, lobed or two-lipped ; 

 corolla gamopetalous ; tube evolnte, short, or elongated, 

 many-formed ; limb four or five-lobed ; aestivation imbri- 

 cate, sometimes bilabiate, the upper lip entire or emar- 

 ginate, the lower three-lobed, from the upper lip being 

 very short and deeply cleft, sometimes being bell or 

 funnel-shaped, with four sub-equal lobes and sub-equal 

 stamens. Leaves opposite or whorled, with pinnate 

 reticulate nerves, exstipulate. "Labiates forms one of 

 the most natural groups of plants; the characters of its 

 members are so uniform that it may be called monotypic, 

 as if all the species could be comprehended in a single 

 genus, and the discrimination of its genera is hence often 

 very difficult" (Decaisne and Le Maiout). Many of the 

 genera yield a valuable oil. Basil, Horehound, Hyssop, 

 Lavender, Marjoram, Mint, Patchouly, Eosemary, Sage, 

 Savory, and Thyme, belong to this order. There are about 

 140 genera and 2600 species. The following are examples : 

 JEolanthus, Anisochilus, Coleus, Cunila, Hyssopus, Lamium, 

 Lophanthus, Perilla, Salvia. 



LABIATE. "A term applied to that form of a 

 monopetalous calyx or corolla which is separated into 

 two unequal divisions, the one anterior, and the other 

 posterior, with respect to the axis." 



LABICHEA (named after M. Labiche, an officer of 

 the French ship " Uranie," who accompanied Freycinet 

 in his voyage round the world). ORD. Leguminosce. A 

 genus of five species of unarmed greenhouse evergreen 

 shrubs or sub-shrubs, natives of Australia. Flowers 

 yellow, in axillary, often few-flowered, racemes ; sepals 

 and petals sometimes only four ; stamens two. Leaves 

 impinnate, or reduced to the terminal leaflet. Labicheas 

 thrive in a compost of peat and loam. Cuttings of half- 

 ripened shoots will root, during summer, in sand, if 

 placed under a bell glass. The following is the only 

 species now in cultivation. 



L. diverslfolia (various-leaved). A synonym of L. lanceolata. 

 L. lanceolata (lance-shape-leaved), fl. bright golden-yellow ; 

 base of the upper petal stained with red ; raceme about six- 

 flowered. April to June. I., leaflets narrow-linear or lanceolate, 

 terminating in a sharp spiny point, h. 6ft. Western Australia, 

 1840. A compact bushy plant. (B. M. 6751.) SYN. L. diversifulia, 

 (under which name it is figured in L. & P. F. G. 52). 



LABILLARDIERA. A synonym of Billiardiera. 



LABIOSE. Applied to a polypetalous corolla which 

 has the appearance of being labiate. 



LABISIA (from labis, a spoon; in allusion to the 

 form of the corolla divisions, which resemble the bowls 

 of small spoons). Spoonflower. ORD. Myrsinece. A genus 

 comprising three or four species of very glabrous or 



Labisia continued. 



puberulous, small stove shrubs, with the habit of PotJios, 

 confined to the Malayan Archipelago. Flowers white, 

 minute, in terminal, elongated, fasciculate racemes. 

 Leaves few, sessile or petiolate, lanceolate, acuminate, 

 entire or denticulate ; petiole or base of leaf sheathed. 

 The undermentioned is probably the only species grown 

 in our gardens. It should be potted in sandy loam, to 

 which a little rough peat is added, and placed in a 

 humid atmosphere, with a gentle bottom heat. Plenty 

 of water should be applied to the roots ; and overhead 

 syringings, in fine weather, will prove beneficial. Propa- 

 gation may be effected by seeds. 



L. pothoina (Pothos-like). fl. white, small, each lobe of the 

 corolla resembling the bowl of a small spoon. June. I. palmate, 

 slender, entire or denticulate; petioles swollen at base, decur- 

 rently articulated with the stem. Stem 1ft. or more high. (B. R. 

 1845, 48.) 



LABLAB (Lablab is the Arabic name of Convolvulus). 

 ORD. Leguminosce. This genus contains a few species, 

 the one best known being that described below, which 

 is widely cultivated throughout many tropical countries 

 as a food plant; its pods and seeds being eaten as are 

 kidney beans and haricots amongst us. For culture, see 

 Dolichos. 



L. vulgaris (common), fl. violet. June. I., leaflets roundish- 

 ovate, ending in a point furnished with a bristle. India, 1794. 

 Stove climber. Now included under Dolickos, the correct 

 name being D. Lablab (under which name it is figured in B. M. 

 896). SYN. Lablavia vulgaris (S. B. F. G. ser. ii. 236). 



LABLAVIA VULGARIS. See Lablab vulgaris. 



LABOUCHERIA. A synonym of Erythrophlceum. 



LABRADOR TEA. See Ledum. 



LABURNUM (the old Latin name used by Pliny). 

 ORD. Leguminosce. A genus comprising only three 

 species of hardy, glabrous or puberulous trees or shrubs, 

 natives of Europe and Asia Minor. Flowers yellow, 



FIG. 365. FLOWERING BRANCHLET OP LABURNUM ALPINUM. 



disposed in terminal racemes ; calyx shortly toothed ; 

 lip ovate or orbiculate. Leaves digitately three-foliolate. 

 The species are readily raised from seed, and the varie- 

 ties easily propagated by grafting or budding on the 



