AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF HORTICULTURE. 



239 



Laurinese continued. 



a, twining herb), natives, for the most part, of tropical 

 regions. Flowers greenish or yellow, small, sometimes 

 minute, often cymose, umbellate, or capitate. Leaves 

 alternate or scattered, rarely opposite, coriaceous and 

 evergreen, rarely membranaceous and annual, often (ex- 

 cept Hernandia) glandular-dotted, feather-veined, or more 

 or less distinctly three to five-nerved, between the veins 

 often thickly reticulate, undivided or rarely two or three- 

 lobed, the rest entire. Laurinece secrete a pungent 

 volatile oil in the bark and glands of the leaves and 

 flowers. Laurus nobilis, a South European tree, is the 

 Victor's Laurel or Sweet Bay, the leaves of which have 

 a pleasant scent and an acrid and aromatic taste; they 

 are used as a flavouring. Cinnamomum officinale yields 

 the Cinnamon-bark of commerce. Camphora officinarum, 

 a native of China, Japan, and Cochin China, furnishes 

 Camphor, a concrete, volatile, colourless oil, with a pene- 

 trating odour, and an acrid but cooling taste. The woods 

 of many of the Laurinece are particularly useful to cabinet- 

 makers and turners, being of a fine and solid tissue. 

 There are about thirty-four genera and 900 species. 

 Well-known examples are : Camphora, Cinnamomum, 

 Laurus, Persea, and Sassafras. 



LAUROCERASUS. Included under Cerasus. 



LAURUS (the old Latin name of the European species). 

 Laurel. OBD. Laurinece. This much-confused genus 

 comprises but a couple of species of hardy evergreen 

 trees, one of which is from the Mediterranean region, 

 and the other a native of the Canary Islands. Flowers 

 shortly pedunculate, fasciculate or shortly racemose. 

 Berry ovoid. Leaves alternate, feather-veined. The 

 Laurel was called Daphne by the Greeks, and was con- 

 secrated to priests and heroes, and used in sacrifices. 

 The Bay will succeed in almost any soil. Cuttings in- 

 serted under a hand glass, in sandy soil, root readily, if 

 attended to for shade and moisture. Seeds, also, are 

 often produced where plants of the two sexes occur. 

 L. Benzoin. See Lindcra Benzoin. 



FIG. 378. FRUITING TWIG, INFLORESCENCE, AND FRUITS OP 

 LAURUS NOBILIS. 



L. nobilis (noble).* Common Laurel ; Sweet Bay-tree, ft. yel- 

 lowish, inconspicuous. Early spring, fr., berries very dark- 

 purple, ripe in October. 1. oblong - lanceolate, acute, veiny. 



. 



. ft. to 60ft. South Europe, 1562. A well-known, aromatic, 

 evergreen tree or shrub. See Fig. 378. There are two or three 

 unimportant varieties in cultivation, having variegated, curled, 

 and Willow-shaped leaves. 

 L. Sassafras. See Sassafras officinale. 



LAURUSTINUS. See Viburnum Tinus. 

 LAVANDULA (from lavo, to wash; in reference 

 to its use in the preparation of Lavender- water). 



Lavandnla continued. 



Lavender. STN. Fabricia. OED. Labiates. * 

 comprising about a score species of greenhouse or hardy 

 perennial herbs, shrubs, or sub-shrubs, inhabiting the 

 Mediterranean regions, and extending from the Canary 

 Islands to the East Indian Peninsula. Flowers blue or 

 violet, sub-sessile ; corolla tube exserted, a little dilated 

 at the throat ; limb oblique, bilabiate ; whorls two to 

 ten - flowered, in cylindrical simple spikes. Nutlets 

 glabrous, smooth. Leaves often clustered near the base, 

 sometimes pinnatifid-dissected. The species are of easy 

 culture in almost any friable garden soil. Propagation 

 may be readily effected by cuttings of young wood, in- 

 serted in free sandy soil, under handlights, in autumn, 

 ajd planted out during the following spring. The 

 flower spikes of the common Lavender (L. vera) are fre- 

 quently cut and dried, on account of their peculiar last- 

 ing fragrance. Cutting, however, should not take place 

 until the flowers are fully expanded. The spikes should 

 be spread and dried slowly, in a cool, shady position, and 

 be then hung up or stored in a dry place. Although the 

 Lavender is possessed of medicinal qualities, which were, 

 at one time, somewhat extensively employed, it is now 

 almost solely grown for the essential oil, which is largely 

 used in perfumery. 



L. abrotanoides ( Abrotanum-like). fl. in dense spikes ; corolla 

 bright purple, the upper lip deeply emarginate, the lower with 

 three equal, rounded, entire lobes. I. densely crowded, sub- 

 sessile, ovate, deeply bipinnatifld. Canary Islands. A pretty 

 species. (Ref. B. 159.) 



L. dentata (toothed). /. dark purple ; whorls six to ten-flowered ; 

 spikes loose, rather tufted at the apex ; calyx oblong, pubescent, 

 about equal in length to the tube of the corolla. Summer. 

 I. oblong, linear, or lanceolate, bluntly and pinnately toothed, 

 pubescent, hoary beneath, with revolute edges. Branches 

 ascending, tetragonal, pubescent, h. 1ft. to 2ft. South-west 

 Europe, 1597. A pretty shrub, hardy only in warm, sunny situa- 

 tions (B. M. 400 ) ' 



L. pinnata (pinnate-leaved), fl. purple, large, in imbricated 

 branched spikes. June. I. petiolate; leaflets wedge-shaped. 

 A. lift. Madeira, 1777. Greenhouse. (B. M. 401.) 



L. Spioa (Spica). A synonym of L. vera. 



L. Stcecnas (Stcechas). fl. dark purple; whorls six to ten- 

 flowered ; spikes dense, comose ; calyces ovate, hoary, shorter 

 than the corolla. Summer. I. oblong-linear, quite entire, with 

 revolute edges, clothed with hoary tomentum on both surfaces. 

 h. 2ft. to 3ft. Mediterranean region, 1568. A handsome, hardy 

 shrub, having a strong, aromatic, agreeable flavour. (S. F. G. 549.) 



L. vera (true).* Common Lavender, fl. blue, rarely white ; whorls 

 six to ten-flowereS ; spikes somewhat interrupted. Summer. 

 I. oblong-lanceolate, somewhat spathulate, quite entire, nar- 

 rowed a long way at the base, with somewhat revolute margins, 

 hoary on both surfaces. h. 1ft. to 2ft South Europe, 1568. 

 SYN. L. Spica. (B. M. PI. 199.) 



LAVATERA (named in honour of two brothers 

 Lavater, physicians of Zurich, and naturalists, who lived in 

 the eighteenth century). OBD. Malvaceae. A genus con- 

 taining about eighteen species of Old World hardy or half- 

 hardy annuals, biennials, perennials, or shrubby plants, 

 allied to Malva, but having the three to six lobes of the 

 involucel coherent about half-way up. Flowers axillary 

 and solitary, clustered, or terminal and racemose. 

 Leaves angled or lobed. The following are the only 

 species worth growing. For culture, see Malva. 

 L. arborea (tree-like). Tree Mallow, fl. pale purple, 2in. across ; 

 pedicels aggregate, axillary, one-flowered. Summer and autumn. 

 I. large, on long petioles, five to nine-lobed, crenate. Stem 

 arboreous, h. 6ft. to 10ft. Coasts of Europe (Britain). A 

 handsome biennial species, softly pubescent all over. (Sy. En. 

 B. 279.) There is a showy garden form of this (variegata) with 

 variegated leaves. See Fig. 379, for which we are indebted to 

 Mr. Wm. Bull. 



L. Olbia (Olbia). Tree Lavatera. fl. reddish-purple, solitary, on 

 short pedicels. June to October. I. soft, woolly, flve-lobed; 

 upper ones three-lobed, with the middle lobe elongated ; upper- 

 most leaves oblong, almost undivided. Stem shrubby, scabrous. 

 h. 6ft. Provence, 1570 (now become naturalised in some parts of 

 Britain). 



L. trimestris (three-monthly).* fl. rose-coloured ; pedicels soli- 

 tary. Summer. I. smoothish, roundish-cordate ; upper ones 

 lobed. Stem herbaceous, scabrous. h. 3ft. to 6ft. South 

 Europe, Asia Minor, &c., 1633. A common but very beautiful and 

 showy hardy annual. See Fig. 380. (B. M. 409.) 



