LEE 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



LEG 



29 



corolla rose-coloured ; capsule an inch in diameter, woody ; 

 kernel bitter. Native of the forests of Guiana. 



6. Lecythis Minor. Leaves lanceolate-oblong, petioled. 

 This is an elegant branching upright tree, sixty feet high ; 

 flowers large; corolla and nectary white; fruit very hard, 

 brown, two inches in diameter; the cover falls oft' when the 

 fruit is ripe ; the dried pulp and seeds follow ; but the pot 

 or body of the capsule hangs on frequently two years in an 

 inverted state. Jacquin relates, that, having eaten whole 

 nut, he was seized with a nausea in half an hour after, accom- 

 panied with a giddiness of the head. The fruits are ripe in 

 December. Native of woods about Carthagena, in New 

 Spain, flowering in June and July. 



Ledum ; a genus of the class Decandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, very small, five-toothed. Corolla : one-petalled, flat, 

 five-parted; divisions ovate, concave, rounded. Stamina: 

 filamenta ten, filiform, spreading, length of the corolla ; antherse 

 oblong. Pistil: germen roundish ; style filiform, length of 

 the stamina ; stigma obtuse. Pericarp : capsule roundish, 

 five-celled, gaping five ways at the base. Seeds : numerous, 

 oblong, narrow, sharp on each side, extremely slender. ES- 

 SENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : five-cleft. Corolla: flat, 

 five-parted. Capsule: five-celled, gaping at the base. All 

 these plants grow on mosses and bogs, where their roots 

 spread freely; and therefore cannot be preserved in a thriving 

 state in gardens, except in similar soil and shady situation. 

 They must be procured from the places of their growth, and 

 taken up with good roots, planted on a border of bog earth, 

 and frequently watered. The species are, 



1. Ledum Palustre; Marsh Ledum, or Cistus. Leaves 

 linear, rolled back at the edge, tomentose underneath. Root 

 branched, running widely and deeply into the ground; stems 

 shrubby, slender, three or four feet long ; leaves resembling 

 those of Rosemary, but wider ; flowers on peduncles, an inch 

 or more in length, whitish, in axillary bundles; seeds very 

 numerous, like saw-dust. It flowers here in April and May. 

 Native of the north of Europe. 



2. Ledum Latifolium ; Broad-leaved Ledum, or Labrador 

 Tea. Leaves oblong, rolled back at the edge, tomentose 

 underneath ; flowers subpentandrous. This shrub grows 

 three or four feet high ; trunk as thick as a man's finger ; 

 flowers very like those of the preceding. It flowers here 

 in April and May. Bees are very fond of the flowers of 

 these plants. Animals do not browse on them, and they 

 are reputed in some degree poisonous ; but are notwith- 

 standing put into beer, in order to inebriate ; the smoke of 

 them destroys bugs and other insects ; and the Russians are 

 said to use them in tanning leather. A decoction of them 

 is given "in the itch. Native of Greenland, Hudson's Bay, 

 Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia. 



3. Ledum Buxifolium ; Box-leaved Ledum. Leaves ovate- 

 oblong, flat, smooth. This is a small shrub scarcely a foot 

 high ; stem upright, roundish, rugged with scars, ash- 

 coloured ; branches at stated intervals in a sort of whorl, 

 leafy, or scarred, each subdivided and upright; corolla white. 

 Native of New Jersey and Carolina. 



Leea; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, 

 bell-shaped, coriaceous, five-toothed, permanent. Corolla : 

 one-petalled ; tube the length of the calix ; border five-cleft; 

 divisions ovate, acute; nectary placed on the tube of the 

 corolla, and shorter than it, upright, pitcher-shaped, five- 

 cleft; lobes emarginate. Stamina: filamenta five, inserted 

 below, within the nectary, between the lobes, incurved ; an- 

 theree ovate, versatile, before impregnation converging and 



covering the stigma. Pistil: germen subglobose, superior ; 

 style simple, shorter than the nectary; stigma headed. 

 Pericarp: berry orbiculate, depressed, quinque-torulose, 

 one-celled. Seeds: five, on one side gibbose, on the other 

 cornered. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla: one-petalled. 

 Nectary: on the tube of the corolla, upright, five-cleft. 

 Berry: five-seeded. The species are, 



1 . Leea Sambucina ; Elder-leaved Leea. Stem, peduncles, 

 and leaves,-smooth. This is a small tree, resembling the 

 Elder; berry marked with from three to six swellings, black, 

 aromatic, containing from three to six seeds. Native of the 

 East Indies, Africa, and New South Wales. 



2. Leea ^Equata ; Shrubby Leea. Leaves smooth ; stem 

 and peduncles scurfy; corymbs trichotomous. Native of 

 the East Indies. 



3. Leea Crispa; Fringe-leaved Leea. Stem angular, 

 fringed, curled. Root tuberous; stem somewhat woody, but 

 annual, three feet high; flowers snowy white, very small. 

 Native of trie Cape, and the East Indies. 



Leeks. See Allium Porrum. 



Leersia; a genus of the class Triandria, order Digynia. 

 GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: none. Corolla: glume 

 bivalve ; valves navicular, concave, compressed, ciliate, 

 prickly on the back, nearly equal ; the exterior larger, 

 oblong, mucronated ; the interior twice as narrow, linear, 

 acute. Nectary two-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, acute. Sta- 

 mina: filamema three, (in some cases one to six) capillary, 

 shorter than the corolla; antherse oblong. Pistil: germen 

 ovate, compressed; styles two, capillary, short; stigmas 

 feathered. Pericarp : none ; the corolla includes the seed. 

 Seeds: single, obovate, compressed. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Calix: none. Glume: two-valved, closed. 



The species are, 



1. Leersia Monandra. Panicle spreading; spikes remote, 

 loose; spikelets directed all one way, roundish, one-stamined ; 

 glumes even. Native of Jamaica. 



2. Leersia Hexandra. Panicle spreading; spikelets alter- 

 nate, six-stamined; glumes almost even. Native of Jamaica. 



3. Leersia Oryzoides. Panicle spreading; spikelets three- 

 stamined ; keel of the glumes ciliate. This is a tall grass, 

 more than two feet high, with rough leaves, and upright, 

 stiff, branching panicle ; the pedicels are flexuose ; and the 

 flowers white with green lines. Native of the marshes of 

 Virginia ; introduced into Italy along with Rice ; found also 

 in Switzerland, the Palatinate, and Persia. 



4. Leersia Lenticularis. Panicles with subsolitary branches; 

 spikelets imbricated ; glumes orbiculated, ciliated. This 

 singular and elegant grass, Pursh informs us, he found on 

 the island of Roanoak, in North Carolina, and observed it 

 catching flies in the same manner as Dioncea Muscipula, 

 (which see) to the leaves of which plant, the valves of the 

 corolla bear a great resemblance. It grows in the wet 

 gravelly woods of Illinois and Virginia. 



Legnotis ; a genus of the class Polyandria, order Mono- 

 gynia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one- 

 leafed, bell-shaped, half four or five cleft, permanent; divi- 

 sions ovate, acute, upright. Corolla : petals four or five, 

 longer than the calix ; claws slender, almost the length of 

 the calix, inserted into the receptacle; borders ovate, fringed 

 with a great many villose divisions. Stamina : filamenta six- 

 teen, twenty, or more, as far as fifty, filiform, equal, length 

 of the calix, inserted into the receptacle ; antherse oblong, 

 upright. Pistil: germen roundish; style cylindric, length 

 of the stamina ; stigma headed. Pericarp : capsule large, 

 three-cornered, three-celled, three-valved, elastic. Seed: 

 solitary, on one side convex, on the other cornered. Observe. 



