252 



THE DICTIONARY OF GARDENING, 



Leptomeria continued. 



bility, the species described below is the only one yet 

 introduced. 

 L. Billardieri (Labillardiere's). fl. white, very minute, disposed 



in numerous spikes, fr. greenish-ued, fleshy, edible. Branches 



erect, very slender, h. 6ft. 1823. 



LEPTOPLEURIA. Included under Dicksonia. 



LEPTOPTERIS (of Blume.) A synonym of Gel- 

 semium (which see). 



LEPTOPTERIS (of Presl). See Todea. 



LEPTOPYRUM. Included under Isopyrum 

 (which see). 



LEFTOS. In Greek compounds this signifies slender, 

 graceful ; hence, leptophyllus, slender-leaved. 



LEPTOSIPHON. Included under Gilia (which 

 see). 



LEPTOSPERMUM (from leptos, slender, and 

 sperma, a seed; seeds slender). Including Fabricia. 

 OBD. Myrtacece. This genus comprises about twenty-five 

 species of greenhouse or half-hardy shrubs, rarely small 

 trees, mostly natives of Australia. Flowers usually 

 white, sessile, or rarely shortly pedicellate, solitary, 

 or two or three together, at the ends of short branch- 

 lets, or in the axils of the leaves. Leaves alternate, 

 small, rigid, entire, nerveless, or one or three-nerved. 

 Leptospermums thrive in a compost of loam and peat, 

 to which may be added a small quantity of sand and 

 charcoal. Propagated by cuttings of young shoots, 

 placed in sand, under a glass, during May; or by 

 seeds, sown in gentle heat, daring March. The species 

 are not very generally cultivated. 



L. ambiguum (ambiguous). A synonym of Kunzea corifolia. 

 L. attenuatum (thin). /. white, usually two on a short silky 



peduncle ; calyx tube densely silky - pubescent. Summer. I. 



linear-lanceolate, acute. A. 3ft. to 6ft. Australia, 1795. 

 L. flavescens (yellowish), fl. white ; calyces glabrous. Summer. 



I. linear-lanceolate, obtuse, dotted, h. 4ft. to 6ft. Australia, 



1788. 



L. fc grandiflorum (large-flowered), fl. white, large ; calyces 

 villous, with coloured teeth. Summer. I. lanceolate, narrowed 

 at both ends, mucronate. h. 4ft. to 6ft. Australia, 1803. 

 (L. B. C. 514.) 



L. f. obovatum (obovate). /. white ; calyces glabrous, with 

 coloured teeth. Summer. I. obovate, emarginate, glabrous. 

 Branches angular, a little winged, h. 3ft. to 6ft. Australia. 



FIG. 393. FLOWERING BRANCHLET OK LEPTOSPKRMUM L^VIGATUM. 



L. Itevigatum (smooth), fl. axillary, solitary and sessile, or nearly 

 so, or very rarely two together, on a common peduncle. I. from 

 obovate-oblong to oblong-cuneate, or narrow-oblong, obtuse 

 mostly iin. to |in. long. h. 20ft. to 30ft. Australia. SYN. Fabricia 

 Icevujata. See Fig. 393. (B. M. 1304.) 



L. lanigerum (wool-bearing), fl. white ; calyces very villous, 

 from spreading pih. Summer. I. oblong or oval, mucronate, 

 pubescent on both surfaces, or only beneath, h. 3ft. Van Die- 

 men's Land and Australia, 1774. 



L. myrtifolium (Myrtus-leaved). fl. rather small, all, or nearly 

 all, solitary, sessile and axillary. I. usually small, obovate or ob- 

 long, Has or concave, nerveless, or one or three-nerved, h. 8ft. to 

 10ft. Australia. 



Leptospernnun continued. 



L. scoparium (Broom-like), fl. reddish-lilac ; calyces glabrous 

 Summer. I. ovate, mucronate. h. 4ft. to 6ft. New Zealand, 

 1772 and 1876. The leaves of this species are used as tea. There 

 is a variety of this, grandiflorum, figured in B. M. 3419. 



L. s. juniperinum (Juniper-like). A narrow-leaved form, 

 agreeing with the type, except in the foliage. 



LEPTOSYNE (from leptosein, slenderness; a name 

 applicable to the original, but not to most of the species, 

 except as to the leaves and their divisions). ORD. Com- 

 positce. A genus (now included, by Bentham and Hooker, 

 under Coreopsis, but regarded as distinct by Dr. Asa 

 Gray) containing about seven species of New World 

 annual or perennial, herbaceous or suffruticose, smooth 

 and glabrous plants, with showy pedunculate heads the 

 ray and disk being both bright yellow and pinnately 

 divided or dissected leaves. They have the habit of 

 Coreopsis (which they represent on the Western side of 

 North America), " but mostly with pistillate rays, and 

 always with a ring on the tube of the disk corollas, or 

 at its juncture with the throat" (Gray). For culture, see 

 Coreopsis. 



L. calliopsidca (Calliopsis-like). fl.-heads rather large and broad, 

 with peduncles a span long. Autumn. L, lobes narrowly linear, 

 sometimes incised, h. 1ft. to 2ft. California. Annual. (R. H. 

 1873, 330, under name of Leptosyne maritima.) 



e), fl.-heads large ; rays 



Iin. or more long ; disk generally Iin. in diameter. Autumn. 

 I. bipinnately divided into narrowly linear lobes of a line or two 



L. maritima (maritime), fl.-heads large ; rays sixteen to twenty, 

 re long ; 



I. bipinnately divided 



in width, h. 1ft. Perennial. (B. M. 6241, under name of Core- 



opsis mantima.) 

 L. maritima, of " Revue Horticole " (maritime). A synonym of 



L. calliopsidea. 



LEPTOTES. Included under Tetramicra (which see). 



LESCHENAUIiTIA (named after L. T. Leschenault, 

 1773-1826, a French botanist and traveller). Formerly 

 spelt Lechenaultia. OBD. Goodenoviece. A genus com- 

 prising sixteen species of very ornamental greenhouse 

 herbs, under-shrubs, or shrubs, confined to Australia. 

 Flowers blue, white, yellow, red, or greenish, either soli- 

 tary and terminal or leaf-opposed, or several in compact, 

 leafy, terminal corymbs; corolla oblique, the tube slit 

 open to the base, or rarely closed, the lobes all or par- 

 tially erect, and connivent or spreading. Leschenaultias 

 are amongst the most beautiful and effective of green- 

 house hard-wooded plants. Their successful cultivation 

 requires the most careful attention at all seasons, par- 

 ticularly in regard to watering. They are propagated 

 from cuttings, which should be taken, in spring or summer, 

 from the points of shoots that are moderately firm, and 

 inserted in well-drained pots of very sandy peat, under 

 a shaded bell glass, in a little heat. Established plants 

 will sometimes require a little stopping, to insure a 

 symmetrical habit. This should be seen to so soon as 

 flowering is over ; and, if it is necessary, a few small 

 stakes may be used for training or supporting the branches 

 left. The soil used in potting or re-potting should con- 

 sist of fibry peat and silver sand. It is very important 

 that the stem of the plant should not be buried, or placed 

 so as to be lower than the surrounding soil. A rather close 

 frame will be best for a time, after the roots have been dis- 

 turbed ; but a light, airy situation should be afforded at all 

 other times. The plants should not be exposed in the open 

 air to ripen their growth ; this treatment is generally inju- 

 rious, if not fatal to them, although it is beneficial to 

 many other plants of a hard-wooded, but much stronger- 

 growing nature. If a light, sunny position, under glass, 

 is selected for their cultivation throughout the autumn 

 and winter, ripening of the wood may fairly be expected, 

 and the plants will be uninjured by alternate heavy rains 

 and drying winds. Only soft water should be used for 

 watering, and it should be judiciously administered at 

 all times. L. biloba major is perhaps the finest blue- 

 flowered hard-wooded shrub in cultivation, and L.formosa 

 is an exceedingly handsome species. The species de- 

 scribed below are those best known to cultivation. 



