LI Q 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



LIR 



49 



a shrub ten feet high, the w hole odoriferous and aromatic; 

 flowers small ; corolla white. Native of Carlhagena, in New 

 Spain. 



5. Lippia Ovata. Heads ovate; leaves linear, quite entire. 

 Native place unknown. 



4. Lippia Hirsuta. Hirsute: leaves oblong, wrinkled, ser- 

 rate, tonientose underneath ; panicles axillary ; heads ovate ; 

 stem four-cnrnered ; flowers minute, white. Found in Ame- 

 rica by Mu I is. 



6. Lippia Cymosa. Flowers cymed ; leaves ovale, almost 

 entire. This shrub lias often several steins from the same 

 root, each no larger than a goose quill, round, and woody; 

 the flowers come out at the top, they are small, and many 

 together. Native of Jamaica. 



Liquidambar ; a genus of the class Monoecia, order Poly- 

 andria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male Flowers: numerous, 

 on a long conical loose ament. Calix: involucre common 

 four-leaved; leaflets ovate, concave, caducous; the nlternate 

 ones shorter. Corolla: none. Stamina: filamenta numerous, 

 very short, on a body convex on one side, flat ou the other; 

 antiK"-ic upright, twin, four-furrowed, two-celled. Female 

 Fwinrn: at the base of the male spike, heaped into a globe. 

 Cali.r: involucre as in the male, but double; perianths pro 

 per bell (hoped, conn-red, several, connate, warty. Corolla: 

 none. Pistil: getnien oblong, growing to the perianth: 

 slv'i-stwo, nwi-shftped ; stigmas growing on one side, length 

 of the style, recurved, pubescent. Pericarp: capsules as 

 many, ovate, one-celled, bivalve, at the tip acute, disposed 

 into a globe, woody. Seeds: several, oblong, glossy, with a 

 inenibrune at the point, mixed with a yreat many chatty cor- 

 puscles. GaM'liu-r ha> furnished us with the following Emen- 

 dations, I'ixlii : germina two, conjoined between each other, 

 and with ihr perianth ; style to each long, awl-shaped; stigma 

 recurved. Pericarp: capsules twin, leathery, beaked, one- 

 celled, gaping inuards. Seeds: several, oblong, glossy, 

 compressed, ending in u little membrane. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER Male Calit: common, four leaved. Corolla: 

 none. Filamenta : numerous. Female. Culix : in a globe, 

 four leaved. Corolla: none. Stylm: two. Capsules: many 

 in a globe, two-valved, man\ -seeded. The specit s are, 



1. Liquidambar Styraciflua; Mttplr-lrarrd Liquiilambar, 

 or Street Gum. Leaves palmute-lobed, with I he sinuses of 

 the base of the veins villose. The trunk of this tree is usually 

 two feet in diameter, straight, and free from branches to the 

 height of about fifteen feet; from which the branches spread 

 and rise, in a conic form, to the height ol forty feet and 

 upwards from the ground. The leaves of this species are 

 distinguished from those of the second, by the little tufts of 

 hairs placed where the veins divide from the midrib. From 

 between the wood and the bark issues a fragrant gum, which 

 trickles from the wounded trees, and, by the heat of the sun, 

 congeals into transparent drops, which the Indians chew 

 as a preservative to their teeth. It is un excellent balsamic 

 medicine, inferior to none, for the whites, and weaknesses 

 occasioned by venereal disorders : it operates by urine, brings 

 away gravel, and is beneficial in disorders of tile lungs: "it 

 ma> be chewed in small quantities, like Gum Arabic ; and 

 smells so like Ifcilsam of Tolu, that it is not easy to distinguish 

 them. The baik of this tree is of singular use to the Indians, 

 for covering their huts: the wood has a fine urain, and is 

 beautifully variegated ; but when wrought too yreen, is ;ipi to 

 shrink : to prevent which, no less than eight or ten years is 

 sutiicieiit to season the plants; after vihicb, it forms excellent 

 timber, and is used in wainscoting. It is a native of clayey 

 ground in North America. The seeds of this tree, if sowii iii 

 the spring, commonly remain in the ground it whole year, 



before the plants come up ; so that the surest way to raise 

 them, is to sow the seeds in boxes or pots of light earth ; 

 which may be placed in a shady situation during the first 

 summer, and be removed in autumn to where they can have 

 more sun : but if the winter should prove severe, it will be 

 proper to cover them with pease-haulm, or other light cover- 

 ing ; which ought constantly to be lemoved in mild weather. 

 In the succeeding spring, if these boxes or pots be placed 

 upon a moderate hot-bed, it will cause the seeds to come up 

 eaily, so that the plants will have time to gel strength before 

 the winter; but during the two first winters, it will be proper 

 to screen them from severe frost, as they will afterwards bear 

 the cold very well. 



2. Liquidambar Imberbe; Oriental Liquidambar. Leaves 

 palmate-lobed, with the sinuses of the base of the*'eius smooth. 

 Native place unknown. 



Liquorice. See Qlycyrfhae*. 

 Liquorice Vetch. See Astragalus. 

 Liquorice, Wild. See Abrus. 

 Liriconfancy. See Coneallaria Maiulis. 

 Liriodendron ; a genus of the class Polyaudria, order 

 Polygynia. GEN ERIC CHARACTER. Calix: involucre pro- 

 per two-leaved; leaflets triangular, fiat, deciduous; perianth 

 three-leaved ; leaflets oblong, concave, spreading, petal-form, 

 deciduous. Stamina: filamenta numerous, shorter than the 

 corolla, linear, inserted into the receptacle of the fructi- 

 fication; anthem- linear, growing longitudinally to the sides 

 of the filameiiliiiii. Pistil: germina numerous, disposed into 

 a cone ; style none ; sliyma to each globose. Pericar-p : 

 none: seeds imbricated into a body resembling a strobile. 

 Seeds: numerous, ending in a lanceolate scale, emitting an 

 acute angle towards the base of the scale from the inner side, 

 compressed -at the base, acute. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 

 Calix: three-leaved. Petals: six seeds imbricated into a 



strobile. The species are, 



1. Liriodendron Tulipifera ; Common Tulip Tree. Leaves 

 lobed. Mr. Marshall describes the tulip-tree as seventy or 

 eighty feet in height. He mentions two varieties, one with 

 yellow, and the other with while wood : the first soft and 

 biittle, much used for boards, and heels of shoes, also for 

 turning into bowls, trenchers, &c. the white heavy, tough, 

 and hard, sawed into joist boards, &c. for buildings. lie 

 remarks that the flower has sometimes seven petals, or more. 

 The young shoots of this tree are covered with a smooth pur- 

 plish bark ; they are garnished with large leaves, the foot- 

 stalks of which are four inches long. The flowers are pro- 

 duced at the end of the branches; they are composed of six 

 petals, three without, and three within, which form a sort of 

 bell-shaped flower: whence the inhabitants ef North America 

 give it the title of Tulip. These petals are marked with 

 green, yellow, and red spots, nuking a fine appearance when 

 the trees are well charged with flowers. The time of this 

 tree's flowering is iu July; and when the flowers drop, the 

 germen swells, and forms a kind of cone : but these do 

 not ripen in England. Catesby, iu his Natural History of 

 Carolina, says, there are some of these trees in America, 

 which ore thirty fei t in circumference, making several bends 

 or elbows; which render the trees dislinmiishable at a great 

 distance, even when they have no leaves on them. They .are 

 found in most parts of the northern continent of America, from 

 the Cape of Florida to New England ; where the timber is of 

 great use, particularly lor making of periauguas, their trunks 

 being large enough to be hollowed into the shape of those 

 boats; so they are of one piece. Kalrn observes, that it is 

 very agreeable at the end of May to see one of UKSC large 

 trees with its singular leaves, and covered for a fortnight togt- 



