LAS 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



L AT 



15 



very hairy: style short, straight, smooth; stigma simple, 

 acute. Pericarp: capsule invested with the culix, nearly 

 globose, with three angles, downy, of three cells, and three 

 valves; partitions from the centre of each valve. Seeds: 

 few, roundish, inserted into the inner heads of the partitions. 

 ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Culix: wheel-shaped, in five 

 deep folded segments. Petals: five, minute, opposite to 

 the stamina. Anthera : opening by two terminal pores. 

 Capsule: superior, of three cells, and three valves, with the 

 partitions from their centre. The species are, 



1. Lasiopetalum Ferrugineum; Rusty Woolly Blossom. 

 Leaves alternate, linear-oblong, dependent; flowers racemose. 

 The whole shrub more remarkable for singularity than beauty. 

 Native of marshes in New South Wales. 



2. Lasiopetalum Ledifolium ; Rosemary -leaved Woolly Blos- 

 som. Leaves opposite, linear-lanceolate, spreading ; stalks 

 single-flowered ; bractes remote from the flower. Native of 

 New Holland. 



3. Lasiopetalum Purpureum ; Purple Woolly Blossom. 

 Leaves oval, entire. A green-house shrub, flowering from 

 April to July. Found in New Holland. 



4. Lasiopetalum Arborescens ; Nettle-tree-leaved Woolly 

 Blossom. Leaves heart-shaped, deeply toothed. A green- 

 house plant, flowering from May to July. Native of New 

 South Wales. 



5. Lasiopetalum Triphyllum ; Three-leaved Woolly Blos- 

 som. Leaves three together, the middle one largest and 

 lobed ; stamina ten, the intermediate ones abortive ; petals 

 wanting. A green-house shrub ; the whole plant clothed 

 with rather soft starry pubescence. Long clusters, of several 

 flowers, grow solitarily, opposite to the large leaves, between 

 the small ones ; calix blush-coloured, hairy ; antherae dark 

 brown, with yellow lips. Found in Lewin's Land, and on 

 the west coast of New Holland. 



6. Lasiopetalum Quercifolium ; Oak-leaved Woolly Blos- 

 som. Leaves three together, all simiated, the middle one 

 largest and three-lobecl, somewhat pinnatirld ; stamina five'; 

 petals wanting. Found at King George's Sound, on the 

 west coast of New Holland. 



7. Lasiopetalum Corniculatum ; Horned Woolly Blossom. 

 Leaves three together, cut, and crenate, the lateral ones very 

 small ; petals wilh linear points as long as the calix. Found 

 in King George's Sound. 



Lasiostoma ; a genus of the class Tetrandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, very short, five-parted ; divisions acute ; at its base 

 two opposite scales. Corolla: one-petalled, funnel-form; 

 tube cylindric ; border four-cleft; divisions acute, villose. 

 Stamina: filamenta four, capillary, villose at the base, in- 

 serted into the tube of the corolla; antherte oblong. Pistil: 

 germen ovate, superior; style longer than the corolla; stigma 

 obtuse. Pericarp : capsule orbiculate, one-gelled, with a 

 brittle bark. Seeds : two, hemispherical. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: very short, five-petalled, with two acute 

 scales. Corolla: funnel-form, four-cleft. Capsule: orbicu- 

 late, one-celled, two-seeded. The only known species is, 



1. Lasiostoma Rouhamon. This is a shrub, with a trunk 

 seven or eight feet in height, and six or seven inches in 

 diameter, with a grayish, irregular, rugged bark, and a whitish 

 wood ; branches and branchlets opposite, covered with a 

 russet down ; the branchlet.s are knobbed, and at each joint 

 have a pair of leaves, which are entire, smooth, oval, ending 

 in a point, and three-nerved underneath; flowers in small 

 axillary corymbs, on a small peduncle, which has two scales 

 at the base ; they are opposite, in pairs, and almost sessile ; 

 corolla white ; capsule yellow ; from the axils of the leaves 

 VOL. it. 67. 



there spring at intervals simple tendrils, two inches and a 

 half long, curved back in form of a cross at top, where they 

 become thicker; by means of these tendrils, the branches 

 support themselves on the neighbouring trees. A variety 

 occurs with smooth branches, larger leaves, and smaller 

 flowers and fruits ; it has no tendrils, but the branches are 

 straight. The shrub is called rouhamon by the Caribs. 

 It is in flower and fruit during the months of October and 

 November ; and is found on the banks of the river Sinemari, 

 in Guiana, forty leagues from its mouth. 



Lnthrcea : a genus of the class Didynamia, order Angio- 

 spermia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, campanulate, straight; mouth deeply four-cleft; 

 Corolla: one-petalled, ringent ; tube longer than the calix; 

 border ringent, ventricose ; upper lip concave, galeated, 

 broad, with a narrow hooked tip; lower lip less reflex, 

 obtuse, trifid. Nectary : an emarginate glandule, depressed 

 on each side, very short, inserted into the receptacle of the 

 flower at the other corner of the germen. Stamina : fila- 

 raenta four, awl-shaped, length of the corolla, hid under 

 the upper lip; antheroe obtuse, depressed, converging. 

 Pistil : germen globose, compressed ; style filiform, length 

 and situation of the stamina ; stigma truncated, nodding. 

 Pericarp: capsule roundish, obtuse with a point, one-celled, 

 two-valved, elastic, coated with a very large spreading calix. 

 Seeds: few, snbglobose, affixed to the middle of the valves. 

 Observe. It approaches nearly, on account of its glandule, to 

 Orobanche. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: four-cleft; 

 gland depressed at the base of the suture of the germen. 

 Capsule: one-celled. The species are, 



1. Lathraea Clandestina ; Hidden Toothivort. Stem 

 branched almost under ground ; flowers upright, solitary. 

 Root thick, long, fibrous ; stem half a palm high, surrounded 

 by a few very short, thick, sharp leaves, and terminated by 

 five or six naked peduncles, three inches long, each bearing 

 one flower of a blue colour, nearly two inches in length. 

 Native of France, the Pyrenees, and Italy. 



2. Lathrasa Phelypeca; Doubtful Toothwort. Corollas 

 spreading, bell-shaped. This is a tender juicy plant, a palm 

 and half high ; stem surrounded by abundance of soft succu- 

 lent leaves, broad at the base, and ending in a sharp point : 

 from the top come out three or four tubular funnel-sliaptri' 

 flowers, an inch or an inch and a half in length, of a yellow 

 colour, divided at top into five segments. 



3. Lathrsea Anblatum; Eastern Toothwort. Lips of tlu- 

 corollas undivided. Native of the Levant. 



4. Lathraea Squamaria; Great Toothwort. Stom quirt 

 simple; corollas pendulous ; lower lip trifid. Root beaded, 

 branched, and surrounded with white succulent scales. Ii 

 is parasitical, and generally attached to the roots of Elms, 

 Hazels, or some other trees in a shady situation. Flowers 

 in a spike, from one side of the stem, in a double row.: 

 corolla pale purple or flesh-coloured, except the lower lip, 

 which is white. The Howers appear in April, emerging from 

 the decayed leaves of trees, among which the plant is mostly 

 found half buried. The English name! Toothwort, is derived 

 from the resemblance of the scaly roots to the human fore- 

 teeth. Native of most parts of Europe; with us it is found 

 near Maidstone, in Kent; Harefield, in Middlesex ; Exton. 

 near Stamford ; in the woods of Derbyshire ; at Conzick- 

 scar, near Keudal, Westmoreland ; and near Gainsford, in 

 Durham; in Scotland it has been observed at Mevisbank, 

 towards Laswade, four or five miles from Edinburgh ; and 

 in Morvern, near the Sound of Mull. 



Lathyrus; a genus of the class Diadelphia, order Decan- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 



