LAM 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



LAM 



9 



rarely produces good seeds in England, nor do the roots 

 propagate very fast. October is the best time to part and 

 remove these roots, but they must not be transplanted oftener 

 than every third year, if they are required to flower strongly. 

 It is hardy, and thrives best in a soft loamy soil. Mr. Curtis 

 says it grows readily ; but that, flowering about the end of 

 April, it is then apt to be injured if cold winds prevail, unless 

 it be placed in a sheltered part of the garden. 



2. Luinium Leevigatuin ; Smooth Archangel. Leaves cor- 

 date, wrinkled; stem even; calices smooth, the length of 

 the tube of the corolla. Root perennial, somewhat creeping; 

 whorls of flowers separated by leaves, ten in a whorl at most. 

 Native of Italy, .Silesia, and Siberia. 



3. Latnium Rugosum ; Wrinkled Archangel. Leaves cor- 

 date, acute, wrinkled, hairy with the stem ; whorls many- 

 flowered ; a single bristle-shaped tooth at the throat. This 

 plant is about a foot high. The flowers are like those of the 

 common sort, and of a deep rose-colour. Sometimes in cold 

 situations it produces curled leaves, round like those of the 

 Lime-tree. Native of Italy. 



4. Lamium Gurganicum ; Woolly Archangel. Leaves cor- 

 date, pubescent; throat of the corolla inflated; tube straight, 

 a double tooth on each side. Root perennial, creeping; stems 

 many, thick, a foot high ; flowers in whorls from the upper 

 joints, large, of a pale purplish colour, continuing in succes- 

 sion most part of the summer. Native of Italy, Silesia, China, 

 Cochin-china, and Japan. It is propagated by. seeds, and 

 its roots spread very fast. 



5. Lamium Maculatum ; Spotted Archangel. Leaves cor- 

 date, acuminate; whorls ten-flowered. This is very nearly 

 allied to the next sort ; but differs from it in having a purple 

 corolla ; the leaves marked with a longitudinal white area, 

 which however disappears in summer ; the petioles not 

 widened ; flowers five on each side, not ten ; two teeth on 

 each side of the throat, the upper one bristle-shaped. -Native 

 of Germany, Silesia, Dauphiny, and Italy. 



6. Lamium Album; White Archangel, or Dead Nettle. 

 Leaves cordate, acuminate, serrate, petioled ; whoris twenty- 

 flowered. Root perennial, white, jointed, creeping ; stems 

 numerous, a foot high, unbranched, slender at bottom, hol- 

 low, slightly hairy, sometimes almost smooth ; in exposed 

 situations reddish purple; the young shoots erect and ascend- 

 ing. Flowers yellowish-white, sometimes tinged with red. 

 It is common in hedges, on banks, by road-sides, and in 

 corn-fields, flowering in April and May, when it is much 

 resorted to by bees, for the honey secreted in the bottom 

 of the tube by the gland that surrounds the base of the ger- 

 men. Hence it is called in some countries Bee-nettle, which 

 is corrupted into Bean-nettle. It has also the name of Die- 

 nettle, which is a corruption of Dead-nettle, and that, as 

 well as Blind-nettle, means a nettle without stings. This 

 plant has a disagreeable smell when bruised. The Phaltena 



Chrysitis, or burnished brass moth, feeds on it. Linneus 

 says, the leaves are eaten in Sweden as a pot-herb in the 

 spring. No cattle however appear to touch it; and having a 

 strong creeping perennial root, it. should be extirpated, unless 

 retained for medical purposes. The flowers made into a 

 conserve are an excellent remedy Car that troublesome, weak- 

 ening, and oftentimes obstinate and dangerous, female com- 

 plaint, the fluor albus or whites ; doses' of a few grains, gra- 

 dually increased, have been found very effectual. The whole 

 plant is of an astringent nature; and the dried roots are 

 sometimes given with success in fluxes. A strong infusion of 

 the leaves bids fair to answer the same purposes, and may be 

 serviceable in all other kinds of weakness and debility. It 

 propagates itself copiously by the roots. 



7. Lamium Bifidum. Leaves cordate, acuminate ; upper 

 lip of the corolla bifid ; segments divaricated. Stems a foot 

 or eighteen inches high, procumbent, tinged with red at 

 bottom, and branched there ; flowers white, appearing in 

 February and March. It is an annual plant, native of Italy, 

 near Naples ; the coast of Tuscany, and the isle of Elba. 



8. Lamium Purpureum ; Purple Archangel. Leaves cor- 

 date, blunt, petioled. Root annual, fibrous ; stems several, 

 at the bottom- weak and branched, near the top almost 

 naked, and frequently coloured, six inches or more in height, 

 hollow, and somewhat rugged ; flowers growing thickly toge- 

 ther on the tops of the stalks in whorls, six together, in a 

 double row; corolla red ; seeds pale brown, triangular, trun- 

 cate, margined. This, like the sixth species, is common in 

 most parts of Europe, in the same situations, and is a com- 

 mon weed in gardens and other cultivated land ; flowering a 

 great part of the year, from April to September, and in mild 

 seasons both earlier and later. Bees resort also to this for 

 the honey-juice in the flowers. Linneus says it is boiled in 

 Upland, a province of Sweden, as a pot-herb. The herb and 

 flowers, either fresh or dried, afford a decoction that is good 

 for floodings, bleedings at the nose, spitting of blood, or 

 any kind of haemorrhage. The leaves are also useful to 

 stanch wounds, when bruised, and outwardly applied. It 

 is propagated by seeds. 



9. Lamium Dissectum; Cut-leaved Archangel. Leaves 

 deeply and irregularly cut; stem-leaves decurrent. It is annual, 

 and not unfrequeiit, according to Ray, in kitchen-gardens 

 and fallow fields. Mr. Curtis observed it on a bank between 

 Pimlico and Chelsea; and Mr. Robson, about Darlington. 



10. Lamium Molle ; Pellitory -leaved Archangel. Leaves 

 petioled, slightly toothed, lower cordate, upper ovate ; flow- 

 ers white. Native place unknown. 



11. Lamium Amplexicaule; Per foliate Archangel. Floral 

 leaves sessile, embracing, blunt; root annual, fibrous, whitish; 

 stems several, nine inches or a foot high, nearly upright, 

 smooth, with a few opposite branches ; flowers in whorls, 

 to fifteen, perfect and imperfect; the latter short, a little 

 longer than the calix, the tips very red, hairy, and closed ; 

 the former four times the length of the calix, bright purple, 

 generally breaking out from the top of the stem. The imper- 

 fect corollas are very hairy, of a bright red colour, and have 

 the mouth closed. The tube of the perfect ones is very long, 

 cylindrical, and nearly upright; the edge of the throat is 

 turned back, spotted, and has two little teeth ; the neck is 

 a little prominent; the upper lip hirsute, and nearly entire; 

 the lower turning down, and dividing into two lobes, which 

 are spotted with purple. The imperfect flowers appear in 

 February and March, the perfect ones not till May or June: 

 if the progress of the flowers be watched, it will be found 

 that the corolla is gradually enlarged in different flowers, till 

 the weather being sufficiently warm, they come forth fully 

 formed. The imperfect flowers are neither rudiments of the 

 long ones, nor are they barren, for they have both stamina 

 and pistillum. Linneus informs us that this plant scarcely 

 ever produces perfect flowers in Sweden. Here then we 

 have a process somewhat similar to what is observed in the 

 Violet, and some other plants, in which perfect seed is pro- 

 duced, although the corolla be not perfectly formed; analo- 

 gical to what happens in the animal kingdom, when a cater- 

 pillar, previously to its changing into the chrysalis state, hag 

 been deprived of its proper quantity of food, the fly comes 

 forth perfect in all its parts except the wings, which arfi 

 crumpled up, and never expand. This plant is common in 

 most parts of Europe, in cultivated ground, on light soils, and 

 on walls. The old name of it is Great Henbit, 



