52 



LIT 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



LO A 



Pistil: germina four; style filiform, length of the stamina; 



stigma obtuse, emarginate. Pericarp: none; calix grown 



larger, upright, containing the seeds in its bosom ; seeds four, 



rather oblong, obtuse, gibbous. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. 



Calix: five-parted. Corolla: funnel-form, perforated at the 



throat, naked. The species are, 



1. Lithospermum Officinale ; Common or Officinal Grom- 



tcell, Gromill, or Graymill. Seeds smooth and cvm ; 



con lias scarcely longer than the calix; leaves lanceolate; 



root perennial, strong; stems erect, roundish. The seeds 

 operate powerfully as a diuretic, and are said to be service- 

 able in the stone, gravel, and most other obstructions: the 

 best method of giving them is in barley-water, after having 

 reduced them to a fine powder. Native of most parts of 

 Europe, in dry, gravelly, and chalky soils. It flowers in 

 May and June. All the plants of this genus may be culti- 

 vated, by sowing their seeds soon after they are ripe in a bed 

 of fresh earth, allowing them room, and keeping them clear 

 from weeds. They will thrive in almost any soil aud situation ; 

 and where the seeds are. permitted to scatter, generally rise 

 without care. The sixth aud seventh are handsome) and 

 worth cultivating. 



2. Lithospermum Anense; Corn or Bastard Gromwell. 

 Seeds ovate, wrinkled; calicine leaflets lanceolate; corollas 

 scarcely longer than the calix; leaves lanceolate, sharpish, 

 hispid ; root annual, small, and not much branched: its bark 

 abounding with a deep red dye, which stains paper and linen, 

 and is easily communicated to oily substances ; hence it is 

 sometimes called Bastard Alkanet. Linneus, in his Flora 

 Suecica, informs us, that the country girls in the north of 

 Sweden use the root to slain their faces on days of festivity. 

 It is common in corn-fields, and waste places; flowering from 

 May to July. See the first species. 



3. Lithospermum Incanum ; Hoary Gromwell. Seeds 

 rough ; spikes terminating, compound, contracted ; leaves 

 linear, villose. This is a shrubby species, found in Teautea 

 and Savage Islands. See the first species. 



4. Lithospermum Virginianum ; Virginian Gromwell. Co- 

 rollas larger than the calix, acute, rough-haired on the out- 

 side; leaves ovate, acute, hispid, nerved; root perennial; 

 corolla white. Native of Virginia and Maryland. See the 

 first species. 



5. Lithospermum Tinclorum; Dyer's Gromwell. Seeds 

 smooth and even; spike solitary, terminating, directed one 

 way; bractes lanceolate; leaves linear-lanceolate, blunt; 

 root fusiform, two inches long, annual; stems several. 

 Native of Egypt. 



0. Lithospermum Orientale; Yellow Gromwell, or Bugloss. 

 Flowering branches lateral ; bractes cordate, embracing ; stem 

 barren, upright : perennial. It flowers in May and June; 

 and is a native of the Levant. See the first species. 



7. Lithospermum I'urpuro-ccehile'tim ; Creeping Gromu-ell. 

 Seeds smooth and even; corollas twice as long as the calix; 

 leaves lanceolate, somewhat hairy ; the long woody perennial 

 root produces many round, hairy, leaf'v stems, most of which 

 are procumbent, and throw out roots; corolla first purple, 

 then blue, with a pale reddish tube. Native of most of the 

 temperate parts of Europe: found near Taunton, in Somer- 

 setshire, and near Denbigh, in North Wales ; also in a chalky 

 soil near Grccnhithe, in Kent. See the first species. 



It. Lithospernium Tenuiflorum. Corollas filiform ; leaves 

 linear-lanceolate, strigose; stem upright. Native of Egypt. 

 See the first species. 



9. Lithospermum Fruticosum; Shrubby Gromwell. Shrubby: 

 Leaves linear, hispid; stamina equalling the corolla; rout 

 perennial, running deep into the ground ; stem upright, 



shrubby, from two to three feet high, pretty closely set with 

 hairs. Native of the south of Europe, and the Levant. See 

 the first species. 



10. Lithospermum Callosum. Leaves lanceolate-linear, 

 callous, warted, hispid ; stem suffruticose, hispid. Native 

 place unknown. See the first species. 



11. Lithospermum Ciliatum. Leaves ovate, hoary, callous 

 at the edge, ciliate; stem suffruticose, innricated, hispid. It 

 is a small, stiff, upright shrub, a span in height. Native 

 place unknown. See the first species. 



12. Lithospermum Dispeimum. Seeds only two; calicen 

 spreading; root annual; stem herbaceous, a hand high; 

 corolla bluish white, small. Native of Spain, between 

 Madrid and Cadiz. See the first species. 



13. Lilhospcrmum Lutifolium. Seeds turgidly ovate, lucid, 

 cavo-punctate ; leaves ovate-oblong, nervous; flowers pale 

 yellow. round in shady woods from Virginia to Kentucky. 



14. Lilhospcrmuni Angustifoliuni. Seeds the same as the 

 preceding; flowers lateral, white; leaves linear, adpiesso- 

 pubesceut ; stem prostrate. It grows in shady woods in the 

 ficinity of the river Ohio. 



15. Lithospermum Aptilum. Seeds inuricate; spikes ter- 

 minal, fruitful; bractes lanceolate; leaves linear-hinceolate, 

 acute; flowers yellow, very small. It grows in the dry woods 

 of Virginia, and ill the neighbourhood of the rivers Ohio and 

 Mississippi. 



Litlorella; a genus of the class Monojcia, order Tetran- 

 dria. GENERIC CHARACTER. Mule. Calix: perianth 

 four-leaved, upright. Corolla: one-petalled ; tube the length 

 of the calix; border four-parted, upright, permanent. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta four, filiform, very long, inserted into the 

 receptacle ; anthene heart-shaped. Female, in the same plant. 

 Calix: none. Corolla: one-pelalled, conic, with slightly four- 

 cleft mouth; permanent. Pistil: permcu oblong ; style fili- 

 form, very long; stigma acute. Pericarp: the investing 

 corolla. 'Seed: nut one-celled. Observe. The flower is that 

 of Plantain, but the fruit different. ESSENTIAL CHA- 

 RACTER. Male. Calix: fair leaved. Corolla: four-cleft. 

 Stamina: long. Female. Calix: none. Corolla: slightly 



four-cleft. Styles: long. Seed: a nut. The only known 



species is, 



1. Littorella Lacustris; Plantain Shore trerj. The roots 

 shoot out long running fibres, which take root afresh, aud 

 thus in a short lime cover the brink of the lakes with tufts of 

 semi cylindrical, linear, acute leaves, about two indies long. 

 Native of the north of Europe, on the shores of lakes. It has 

 been observed on Hounslow Heath; near l.owesloff, in Suf- 

 folk ; at Hoseley lough, in Northumberland ; is common in 

 Scotland, and some parts of Wales, and on the margins of all 

 the gravelly-shored lakes in Ireland. 



Lire-in-Jd/tnetig. See Viola. 



Lifflons:- See Telephium. 



Liver Wort. See Lichen Caniinn. 



Lizard's Tail. Sec Saururux. 



Loaxa ; i\ genus of tlie class Polyandria, order Monogynia. 

 G EN ERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth live leaved, 

 superior, permanent; leaflets lanceolate, very gpnaifing, with 

 reflex sides. Corolla: petals five, obnvate, hooded, large, 

 extremely spreading, narrowed at tlie base into claws ; nectary 

 of live leaflets, alternating wilh the petals, converging imo 

 ail acute cone, rather shorter than the ciilix, lanceolate, rugose, 

 awned with a double filamentum. Stamina : filiiuieiita numer- 

 ous, capillary, longer than the nectary, from fifteen to seven 

 teen to each petal; anlheriK incumbent, roundish. Pistil: 

 germen subovale, seed -bearing ; style filiform, upright, the 

 length of the ktamiir.i; stigma simple, obtuse. Peiicarp: 



