L Y C 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



L Y C 



65 



10. Lychnis Diurna ; Rose-flowered Lychnis, or Wild Red 

 Campion. Flowers dioecous ; capsules one-celled, roundish. 

 Root perennial, the thickness of the little finger; stalks several, 

 upright, from one to three feet high ; petals purple. It flow- 

 ers in May and June. Native of many parts of Europe, in 

 moist shady ditches, by the sides of hedges, and sometimes 

 in woods. A variety of this with double flowers is cultivated 

 m gardens by the name of Red Bachelor's Buttons It is 

 an ornamental plant, and continues long in flower. The 

 double varieties, both red and white, are propagated by slips 

 in the beginning of August, in a shady border of loamy earth, 

 where they will take root in six weeks or two months, and 

 may then be transplanted into the borders of the flower-garden. 

 These roots should be annually removed, otherwise they fre- 

 quently rot : and young plants must be propagated by slips 

 to supply the decay of the old roots, which are not of very 

 long duration. The red thrives best in a soft loamy soil, and 

 in a shady situation, where it has only the morning sun: the 

 double white does not make so good an appearance as the 

 red, but will thrive in a drier soil, and a more open ex- 

 posure. 



11. Lychnis Vespertina ; White-flowered Lychnis, or Wild 

 White Campion. Flower dioecous ; capsules one-celled, 

 conical. This is distinguished from the preceding by its 

 calix, which is thicker, harder, almost cartilaginous, covered 

 with veins forming a net; the stalks are branched out much 

 more than in it; the leaves are longer, and more veined; 

 and the flowers stand singly upon pretty long peduncles, 

 and not in clusters, appearing a month after the red. Com- 

 mon in Sweden, Silesia, at the foot of the Alps, and with us 

 in Cambridgeshire. For cultivation, &c. see the preceding. 



12. Lychnis Apetala. Calix inflated ; corolla shorter than 

 the calix ; flowers hermaphrodite, one or two oil the stem. 

 Root fibrous ; stem single, upright, a span high, entire. A 

 single flower generally terminates the stem, nodding horizon- 

 tally. Native of the mountains of Lapland and Siberia. 



Lycium ; a genus of the class Pentandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix: perianth subquin- 

 quefid, obtuse, erect, very small, permanent. Corolla : 

 monopetalous, funnel-form ; tube cylindric, spreading, in- 

 curved ; border five-parted, obtuse, spreading, small. Sta- 

 mina: filamenta five, awl-shaped, from the middle of the 

 tube, shorter than the corolla, closing the tube with a beard ; 

 antherse erect. Pistil: germen roundish ; style simple, 

 longer than the stamina; stigma bifid, thickish. Pericarp: 

 berry roundish, two-celled. Seeds: several, kidney-form; 

 receptacles convex, affixed to the partition. ESSENTIAL 

 CHARACTER. Corolla: tubular, closed at the throat by the 

 beard of the filamenta. Berry: two-celled, many-seeded. 

 The species are, 



1. Lycium Japonicum; Japan Box-thorn. Unarmed: 

 leaves ovate, nerved, flat; flowers sessile. This shrub is 

 scarcely a fathom high, very much branched, upright. It is 

 frequently planted for hedges in Japan, where it is a native. 

 This, with the second, third, fifth, sixth, eleventh, and 

 twelfth, may be increased by seeds, cuttings, or layers. If 

 by seeds, they should be sown in the autumn, soon after they 

 are ripe ; for if they are kept out of the ground till spring, 

 they seldom come up the first year. If the seeds be sown 

 in pots, the pots should be plunged into some old tan in the 

 winter, and in very severe frost covered with pease-haulm or 

 straw, but in mild weather should be open to receive the 

 wet. In the spring, the pots ought to be plunged into a 

 moderate hot-bed, which will soon bring up the plants, which 

 must be inured to bear the open air as soon as the danger of 

 frost is over; and when they are three inches high, they may 



be shaken out of the pots, and each planted in a small sepa- 

 rate pot, filled with loamy earth, and placed in the shade till 

 they have taken new root, when they may be removed to a 

 sheltered situation, where they may remain till the autumn ; 

 then they should be removed either into the green-house, or 

 placed under a hot-bed frame to shelter them from hard frost: 

 for these plants being too tender to live in the open air in 

 England, they must be kept in pots, and treated in the same 

 way as Myrtles, and other hardy green-house plants ; but 

 when the plants are grown strong, there may be a few of them 

 planted in the full ground in a warm situation, where they 

 will live in moderate winters. If the cuttings of these plants 

 b.e planted in a shady border in July, and duly watered, they 

 will take root, and may then be treated in the same way as 

 the seedling plants. 



2. Lycium Barbatum. Unarmed ; leaves ovate, smooth : 

 branches flexuose; flowers panicled. Native of the Cape. 



3. Lycium Africanum; African Box-thorn. Thorny: leaves 

 linear, fascicled ; branches stiff"; stem straight, rigid. Native 

 of the Cape. There is a variety with purplish white flowers ; 

 native of France, Spain, and Italy, in hedges. 



4. Lycium Ruthonicum. Thorny : leaves linear, fascicled ; 

 branches hanging down. This is a shrub six feet high ; 

 flowers two or four together, outwardly pale, and of a green- 

 ish purple. This, with the eighth and ninth species, are 

 hardy, and may be increased by cuttings or layers. Native 

 country unknown. 



5. Lycium Tetrandrum. Thorny : leaves ovate, obtuse ; 

 branches angular; corollas four-cleft. Native of the Cape of 

 Good Hope. See the first species. 



6. Lycium Boerhaavisefolium ; Glaucous-leaved Box-thorn. 

 Thorny : leaves ovate, quite entire, acute, glaucous ; flowers 

 panicled. Stem upright, round, branched, full of chinks, ash- 

 coloured ; corolla blue, sweet-smelling ; branches alternate, 

 spreading, smooth. Native of Peru. See the first species. 



7. Lycium Barbarum ; Willow-leaved Box-thorn. Thorny : 

 leaves la-nceolate ; branches loose ; calices bifid. This is a 

 weak, nodding, and decumbent shrub. Native of Europe, 

 Asia, and the Cape. It is increased by cuttings planted in 

 the spring, before they begin to shoot, in a border exposed 

 to the morning sun. They should not be removed till the 

 autumn, when they may be planted to cover walls; for the 

 branches are too weak to support themselves. 



8. Lycium Europaeum ; European Box-thorn. Thorny : 

 leaves oblique ; branches flexuose, round. The Spaniards 

 eat the tender shoots of this shrub with oil and vinegar : and 

 Michael says, that it is used for hedges in Tuscany, where 

 they call it Spina da corone di crocifissi; supposing it, in 

 common with several other prickly shrubs, to be that of which 

 our Saviour's crown of thorns was made. Native of the south 

 of Europe, Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy. 



9. Lycium Tataricum ; Tartarian Box-thorn. Thorny : 

 leaves linear, fascicled ; branches supine. This is an elegant 

 shrub, on account of the whiteness of the branches, rods, or 

 twigs, which are many, a foot or eighteen inches long, or 

 more, branched, ascending ; tube of the corolla white. 

 Native of Tartary, about the Volga. 



10. Lycium Capsulare. Thorny: leaves lanceolate, thin, 

 smooth ; peduncles and calices pubescent ; pericarps capsu- 

 lar. Native of Mexico. 



11. Lycium Cinereum. Leaves lanceolate, smooth; branches 

 spinescent ; peduncles very short. Native of the Cape. 



12. Lycium Horridum. Thorny : leaves obovate, fleshy, 

 smooth; branches spinescent; peduncles very short ; flowers 

 white. Native of the Cape. 



13. Lycium Cochin-chinense. Unarmed: leaves oblong 



