18 



LAV 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



L A V 



honev. It yields a great quantity both of green fodder and 

 seeds ; but hi what degree the former might be agreeable to 

 cattle, and the latter to pigeons or poultry, must be seen by 

 experience. It is a native of many parts of Europe, in hedges 

 and woods. Mr. Ray observed it, about a century and a half 

 ago, in the Cambridgeshire woods, and it still keeps its post 

 there. It is also found on the rocks near Red Neese, by 

 Whitehaven ; and at Seven Stoke Copse, in Worcestershire. 

 The flowers appear at the end of June and the beginning 

 of July. 



21. Lathyrus Heterophyllus. Peduncles many-flowered; 

 tendrils two and four leaved ; leaflets lanceolate ; internodes 

 membranaceous. Flowers in racemes of about six together ; 

 standard and wings flesh-coloured; keel whitish. Perennial. 

 Native of Sweden, Switzerland, France, and Silesia. 



2'2. Lathyrus Palustris ; Marsh Lathyrus. Peduncles 

 many-flowered ; tendrils many-leaved ; stipules lanceolate. 

 Root perennial, creeping ; the whole plant smooth ; flowers 

 three, or more, pointing one way, in erect racemes ; corolla 

 vivid purplish-blue, of great beauty. Native of many parts 

 of Europe, in moist woods and pastures, but not common here. 



23. Lathyrus Pisiformis ; Siberian Lathyrus Peduncles 

 many-flowered; tendrils many-leaved; stipules ovate, broader 

 than the leaflet. Plant growing like the Pea; corolla with 

 the standard and wings whiiish with purple veins. It flowers 

 in June. Native of Siberia. 



24. Lathyrus Myrtifolius. Stalk naked, tetragonal ; sti- 

 pules half-sagittate, lanceolate, acuminate ; leaflets four, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acute, mucronate, venose-reticulate ; pe- 

 duncles longer than the leaf; commonly three-flowered. -It 

 resembles the twenty-second species, flowers in July and Au- 

 gust, and grows in the salt-marshes of Pennsylvania and New 

 York, anq is very abundant about Lake Onondago. 



25. Lathyrus Venosus. Stalk naked, tetragonal ; stipules 

 half-sagittate, ovate, acuminate ; leaflets numerous, svibalter- 

 nate, ovate, obtuse, mucronate, venose ; peduncles shorter 

 than the leaf; containing from five to ten flowers. It pro- 

 duces purple flowers in July and August; and grows in the 

 low meadows of Pennsylvania. 



26. Lathyrus Decaphyllus. Stalk tetragonal ; stipules 

 half-sagittate, linear ; leaflets oblong-elliptical, mucronate ; 

 peduncles with three and four large purple flowers; the pods 

 are also large. Native of the banks of the Missouri. 



Lavandula ; a genus of the class Didynamia, order Gym- 

 nospermia. GENERIC CHAEACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, ovate; mouth obscurely toothed, short, permanent, 

 supported by bractes. Corolla: one-petalled, ringent, resu- 

 pine; tube cylindric, longer than the calix; border spread- 

 ing ; one lip looking upwards, larger, bifid, spreading; the 

 other lip looking downwards, trifid ; divisions all roundish, 

 nearly equal. Stamina: filamenta four, short, within the 

 tube of the corolla, deflected, of which two are shorter; 

 antherse small. Pistil: gerinen four-parted; style filiform, 

 length of the tube ; stigma two-lobed, obtuse, converging. 

 Pericarp: none; calix converging with the mouth, and 

 guarding the seed. Seeds: four, obovate. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Calix: ovate, obscurely toothed, supported 

 by a bracte. Corolla: resupine. Stamina: within the tube. 



The species are, 



1. Lavandula Spica; Common Lavender. Leaves sessile, 

 lanceolate-linear, rolled back at the edge ; spike interrupted, 

 naked. Root perennial, thick, woody; stem shrubby, much 

 branched, frequently five or six feet high, four-cornered, 

 acute-angled, toraentose. The flowers are produced in ter- 

 minating spikes from the young shoots, on long peduncles ; 

 the spikes are composed of interrupted whorls, in which the 



flowers are from six to ten, the lower whorls more remote : 

 each flower is upright, on a short pedicel. The common, 

 colour of the corolla is blue, but it varies with white flowers. 

 The variety called the Broad-leaved Lavender, has much 

 shorter and broader leaves ; and the branches are shorter, 

 more compact, and fuller of leaves. It will continue several 

 years without producing flowers ; and when it does, the 

 leaves on the flowering stalks approach nearer to those of 

 Common Lavender, but still remain broader. The stalks 

 grow taller, the spikes looser and larger, and the flowers 

 smaller, and appear a little later in the season. Lavender is 

 a plant which has been long celebrated for its virtues in 

 nervous disorders. According to Dr. Cullen, it is, " whether 

 externally or internally, a powerful stimulant to the nervous 

 system ; and amongst others of this order, named cephalics, 

 the Lavender has probably the best title to it." He adds, "it 

 appears to me probable that it will seldom go farther than ex- 

 citing the energy of the brain to a fuller impulse of the nervous 

 power into the nerves of the animal functions, and seldom into 

 those of the vital." It may however be with great propriety 

 that professor Murray has dissuaded from its use, where there 

 is any danger from a stimulus applied to the sanguiferous 

 system. It is, however, still probable that Lavender stimulates 

 the nervous system only, and therefore may be more safe in 

 palsy than the warmer aromatics, especially \vhen not given in 

 a spirituous menstruum, or along with heating aromatics, as is 

 commonly done in the case of the Spiritus Lavandulee Com- 

 positus. The officinal preparations of Lavender are, the essen- 

 tial oil, a simple spirit, and a compound tincture. The essen- 

 tial oil has been used for stimulating paralytic limbs, and for 

 several external purposes. Hill says the flowers are the parts 

 used : they are good against all disorders of the head and 

 nerves, and may be taken in the form of tea. The famous spirit 

 of Lavender called Palsy-drops, and the Sweet Lavender-water, 

 are made with them. The best way to make the Palsy-drops 

 is as follows : put into a small still a pound of Lavender 

 flowers, and five ounces of the tender tops of Rosemary; put 

 to them five quarts of common molasses spirit, and a quart 

 of water : distil off three quarts ; put to this, cinnamon and 

 nutmegs, of each three quarters of an ounce, red sander's 

 wood half an ounce; let them stand together a week, and 

 then strain, off the spirit. The Lavender-water is thus made : 

 put a pound of fresh Lavender flowers into a still with a 

 gallon of molasses spirit, and draw off five pints; this is Laven- 

 der-water. A conserve made of the young tops, just as they 

 are going into flower, possesses all the virtues of the plant, 

 and is an excellent cordial medicine, of great efficacy in most 

 nervous disorders, and paralytic complaints ; it likewise 

 operates by urine, and promotes the menses. The Compound 

 Spirit of Lavender is also an excellent preparation for the 

 above purposes, as it has the advantage of containing many 

 other ingredients of a like nature. It is best taken on a lump 

 of sugar, in which method forty or fifty drops may be given 

 for a dose. Native of the south of Europe, on mountains, by 

 way-sides, and in barren places ; also of Asia and Africa. 

 This plant is propagated by cuttings or slips planted IB 

 March in a shady situation, or in a border where they 

 may be shaded by mats until they have taken root; after 

 which they may be exposed to the sun, and when they have 

 obtained strength, should be removed to the places where 

 they are to remain. These plants will abide much longer in 

 a dry, gravelly, or strong soil, in which they will endure our 

 severest winters; but they will grow much faster in summer 

 on a rich, light, moist soil, but are then generally destroyed 

 by the winter, and are neither so strong-scented, nor so fit 

 for medicinal uses, as those which grow on a barren rocky 



