LAVANDULA 



LAWN 



891 



named from them, is a native of Persia, the Canaries, 

 and the Mediterranean region, covering vast tracts of 

 dry land in Spain, Italy and southern Prance, cultivated 

 largely in the last-named country and in the counties of 

 Surrey and Hertfordshire, England. 



In the eastern United States it is grown in but few 

 gardens, but in California, where climatic and soil con- 

 ditions seem favorable, it is more commonly planted, 

 though not upon a commercial scale. The dry soil of 

 that state and the light limestone soil of the Black Belt of 

 Alabama and adjacent states seem to be most inviting 

 to this industry. 



The generic name is derived from the ancient use of 

 its Huwers and leaves in bath perfumery. The flowers 

 long retain their strong, fragrant odor after drying, and 

 upon distillation yield a lemon-yellow, very fluid oil of 

 aromatic, bitterish, burning taste. Though this is offi- 

 cinally credited with stimulant and tonic properties, it is 

 seldom administered in the pure state. Its chief uses 

 are in the manufacture of perfumery, aromatic vinegar 

 and lavender water, an alcoholic solution of the oil and 

 other odorous substances. For these purposes, English 

 oil has long commanded the highest price, but recently 

 the French product has been claimed superior. Though 

 all parts of the plant are aromatic, and both leaves and 

 flower-stems are used in oil manufacture, oil obtained in 

 the first half hour of distillation from flowers alone is 

 much superior to the later distillate and also to the oil 

 obtained from a mixture of flowers and stems. These 

 grades, and also the highly valued product of very dry 

 seasons, are always sold separately. 



Lavender is best propagated by cuttings of one sea- 

 son's growth taken with a heel of older wood, in late 

 autumn or early spring. When set 3-4 in." asunder in 

 rather moist soil and shaded, they strike more readily 

 and produce more symmetrical plants than older wood. 

 Seed does not propagate desired varieties, and division 

 is not advised, since plants so obtained are more sus- 

 ceptible to disease than those made from young-wood 

 cuttings. After danger of frost, the 1-year-old plants 

 are set 4 ft. asunder in rows G ft. apart, running north 

 and south. Closer planting and the hedge-method yield 

 a smaller quantity of bloom Dry, light, calcareous, 

 even stony soils upon sites where sun and air are unim- 

 peded by trees, etc., favor this plant. Upon such fewer 

 are injured by frost, and tiie oil is of superior quality. 

 In moist soil so much water enters the plant as to 

 enfeeble it, and upon rich lands yield and quality both 

 suffer. Light fertilizing with stable manure or ashes 

 turned under in autumn, and s]niiiLr harrowing, are ad- 

 vised. During the first year in tin- ti'-M thi- phmts should 

 be clipped to prevent flowering ami to tin-imrage stocki- 

 ness. Vigorous plants so treated may grow to a height 

 and a diameter of 5 ft., and when 2-4 years old produce 

 secondary bloom spikes after the general harvest, which 

 usually occurs in early August. Plantations should be 

 destroyed when 4-6 years old and the land rested with 

 other crops before setting to Lavender again. Cutting 

 in clear weather, in early blossom, before the dew is off 

 and at once distilling give best resiilts; but no delay 

 should occur. Cutting in wet weather, in the heat of the 

 day, holding blossoms long before distilling and expos- 

 ing them to the sun after cutting result in serious 

 losses. One pound of flowers yields from K-l drachm 

 of oil, and an acre from 10-25 pounds. The annual out- 

 put of the stills of Grasse, France, is from 80,000 to 

 100,000 kilogrammes. 



"Oil of spike," obtained from a broad-leaved, much 

 whiter and smaller species {L. Spica), is less fragrant 

 than true Lavender oil, being analogous to oil of tur- 

 pentine, with which it is often adulterated. It suggests 

 the odor of rancid cocoanut oil. Officinally, it is credited 

 with carminative and stimulant properties, and has been 

 found useful in nervous languor and headache. It is 

 used by artists in the manufacture of varnishes, by 

 X>orcelain painters, and to a small extent in perfumery, 

 mainly as an adulterant. Prom 20,000 to 2.'5,000 kilo- 

 grammes are annually produced at Grasse. 



BI, G. Kains. 



LAVATfiRA (two Lavater brothers, physicians and 

 naturalists at Zurich, friends of Tournefort). Malvdeere. 

 About 18 species of widely scattered herbs, shrubs and 



trees, tonientose or hairy; Ivs. angled or lobed: fls. 

 sometimes 2-4 in. across, variously colored, rarely yel- 

 low, solitary in the axils or borne in terminal racemes; 

 column of stamens divided at the summit into an indefi- 

 nite number of filaments; petals 5. 



The genus has 5 near allies of garden value, which 

 are all distinguishable by their bractlets. In Lavatera 

 and Althaea they are grown together at the base; in 

 Malva and Callirhoe they are free all the way, some- 

 times absent in Callirhoe; Sidalcea has none at all. 

 Lavatera is further distinguished from Althaea by hav- 

 ing 3-6 bractlets (Althaea having 6-9), and the axis of 

 the fruit surpassing the carpels, which is not the case 

 in Althaea. These plants are of the easiest culture, the 

 first species being the commonest, and all prop, by 

 seeds. There seem to be no double forms. They are 

 far less popular than Hollyhocks. 



A. AnnutO, herbaceous. 



trim6striB, Linn. Height 3-6 ft. : Ivs. nearly glabrous, 

 upper ones angled: fls. rosy, 4 in. across: receptacle or 

 axis of the fr. expanded at the apex into a disk, inclos- 

 ing the ovary. Mediterranean region. Var. 6,lba has 

 white fls. Gn. 24, p. 89; 51, p. 212 and 53:1154. B.M. 109. 



AA. Biennial or perennial, shnihhij or free-like. 

 B. Foliage variegated. 

 arbdrea, Linn. Biennial, woody at the base, with an- 

 nual flowering branches, forming a shrub 3-5 ft. high or 

 less: Ivs. 5-9-lobed, softly downy on both sides, rarely 

 nearly glabrous: fls. pale purple-red, about 2 in. across: 

 receptacle small, marked with little pits, not exserted. 

 Cult, only in the form of var. varieg'^ta, which has 

 mottled Ivs. Gn.23, p. 114. V.8:99. 



BB. Foliage not variegated. 

 c. Fls. 1-4 in the axils, pedicelled. 



assurgentifl6ra, Kellogg. Presumably perennial, 

 shrubby, 0-15 ft. high: Ivs. glabrous or sparingly stel- 

 late-pubescent, 5-7-lobed, 3-6 in. wide: fls. purple; 

 petals 1-1/^ in. long, with long, narrow, glabrous claws, 

 and a pair of dense, hairy tufts at the base: axis of the 

 fr. low-conical, about as long as the carpels. Anacapa 

 Island. Cult, in Calif . — Franceschi says it makes a large, 

 round-lieaded slirub, with large red fls., and is one of 

 the best plants to stand saline winds. See Wind-breaks. 

 CO. Fls. solitary, sessile. 



(ilbia, Linn. Perennial, shrubby, about 6 ft. high: 

 hairs of the stem pilose, somewhat clustered, distant: 

 Ivs. softly tomentose, lower ones 5-Iobed, upper 3-Iobed, 

 highest oblong, scarcely divided: fls. reddish purple. 

 S. Eu. — Not advertised in America, but commonly cult, 

 in England, where it occasionally sows itself, y^ ]yj_ 



LAVENDER. See Lavandula. 



LAVENDER COTTON is Santolina Chamm-yparissus. 



LAVIA, of one nursery catalogue, is a typographical 

 error for Layia. 



LAWN. For most people the word Lawn bears a 

 vague meaning, compounded of their recollection of 

 grass-covered spaces dotted over with trees and shrubs, 

 and of broad areas covered simply with closely-mown 

 turf. Both are correct impressions: but the more im- 

 portant feature is that a Lawn shall be an open area of 

 grass space (Figs. 1245, 124G). Many exceptions or ad- 

 ditions to this definition may, however, be admitted. A 

 great white oak, for in.stance, rugged and picturesque 

 against the evening sky, needs only to be seen to fur- 

 nish an ample excuse for its retention on any Lawn. But 

 this would be a happy chance, not affecting the princi- 

 ples which should govern the construction of a Lawn 

 on an open area. 



It may readily appear that the Lawn will, as originally 

 designed, prove too sunny or too strongly wind-swept 

 over its extended expanse; but the remedy for this will 

 be found to lie not so much in planting single trees or 

 detached groups of trees over the uncovered area, as in 

 extending limbs, points, promontories and peninsulas 

 of trees, or trees and shrubs, directly out from the main 



