LAGENARIA 



LAGETTA 



1775 



are often called snake gourds in this country (not to be 

 confounded with snake cucumber, which is a Cucumis). 

 These are sometimes several feet long. The form with 

 a constricted middle is the bottle gourd. The grooved 

 musical instrument in Spanish Amer. known as guira, 

 guichara or caracho, is made from the gourds (marim- 

 bo) of this plant. The South African calabash pipes are 

 derived from this plant and not from Crescentia. 



L. H. B. 



2060. Crape myrtle. Lagerstroemia indica. ( X l /Q 



LAGENOPHORA (flask-bearing, referring to the 

 shape of the involucre). Compdsitae. Small perennial 

 scapose herbs, resembling Bellis, allied to Brachycome, 

 sometimes planted. Scapes sometimes bearing Ivs., 

 slender, unbranched; heads solitary and small, with a 

 short involucre having bracts in about 2 rows; recep- 

 tacle convex and naked ; rays in 1-3 rows, usually white, 

 female and fertile; disk-florets perfect: fr. compressed, 

 more or less beaked, the pappus wanting. Species 

 about 16, mostly in Austral, and New Zeal., but some 

 in E. Asia and in extra-tropical S. Amer. They are 

 probably adapted to outdoor cult, in parts of the S. 

 L. Forsteri, DC., the "native daisy" of New Zeal., is 

 described by Cheeseman as a small daisy-like herb, 

 either tufted or with creeping and rooting stolons 

 furnished with tufts of radical lys. at the nodes: Ivs. 

 radical or cauline, the blade orbicular to obovate and 

 1 in. or less long, coarsely dentate or nearly lobed: 

 scape 1-6 in. long, sometimes with 1-3 minute linear 

 bracts; head %-%in. diam., the rays white and 

 revolute, numerous. Variable. G.C. III. 49:69. L. 

 Billardieri, Cass., of India and Austral., has Ivs. 

 radical or nearly so, oblong or obovate, sinuate- 

 toothed: scape slender, 3^4 in., from a rootstock with 

 thick fibers: head ^in. diam., with white short rays: 

 variable in size of head. L jj g 



LAGERSTR(EMIA (Magnus v. Lagerstrcem, 1696- 

 1759, a Swede and friend of Linnaeus). Lythracex. 

 Showy-flowered shrubs and trees, one of which (the 

 crape myrtle) is much planted in the southern states. 



Leaves opposite or the uppermost alternate, mostly 

 ovate, entire: fls. in axillary and terminal panicles, 

 with bracted peduncles and pedicels, pink, purple or 

 white; calyx with a funnel-shaped tube and 6-9 lobes; 

 petals mostly 6, crinkled or fringed, with a long, slen- 

 der claw (Fig. 2061); stamens many to very many, 



long, some of them upward-curved; ovary 3-6-celled, 

 with a long bent style and capitate stigma: fr. a caps.; 

 seeds winged at the top. Species, according to Koehne 

 (Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 17, 1903), 30 in S. and 

 E. Asia, Austral., Philippines, New Guinea. The 

 crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, is to the S. what 

 the lilac and snowball are to the N. an inhabitant 

 of nearly every home yard. It is a strong-growing 

 shrub, reaching a height of 10-35 ft., deciduous-lvd., 

 producing an abundance of soft fringed and showy fls. 

 in summer. The normal form has pink fls., but varie- 

 ties with blush, white and purple fls. are not uncommon. 

 It is hardy as far north as Baltimore, but north of that 

 latitude it needs protection; even with protection it 

 cannot be grown north of the Long Island region. I. 

 speciosa is very little grown. Neither species seems to 

 thrive in S. Calif. The many other promising species 

 of Lagerstrcemia appear not to have been intro. com- 

 mercially in this country. 



indica, Linn. (L. chinensis, Lam.). CRAPE MYRTLE. 

 Figs. 2060, 2061. Glabrous, smooth- and brown- 

 barked shrub, with rather small (2 in. long) elliptic or 

 oblong sessile mostly acute Ivs.: panicle open, some- 

 times minutely pubescent; fls. usually bright pink, but 

 there are blush, purplish and white forms; calyx not 

 ribbed, glabrous or nearly so. Widely cult, in India, 

 but probably native to China. B.M. 405. R.H. 1857, p. 

 627; 1874:130. Gt. 6:128; 54, p. 230. G.W. 6, p. 13; 

 10, p. 109; 13, p. 145. Gng. 1:151; 5:281. A.F. 9:85. 

 F.E. 31:643. -Grown everywhere in the S. Atlantic 

 and Gulf States for its profuse summer bloom, and 

 some tunes it has escaped. The crape myrtle is of the 

 easiest cult. The old bushes bloom profusely, but the 

 plant will produce fls. the first year from seed. The 

 seeds start readily in spring if sown in boxes in au- 

 tumn and are not allowed to dry out. It is also prop, 

 readily by cuttings of ripe wood. The bloom may be 

 increased by cutting back so that fresh growth is 

 secured. The plant may be grown in a tub or pot in 

 a cool greenhouse, and will bloom 2 or 3 times a year 

 if it is cut back. It has no special soil requirements. 

 In the N. the root may survive if it is well protected, 

 and strong shoots will arise that give bloom the same 

 year. Sometimes the plants are lifted in autumn, 

 carried over winter in a cellar and planted out in 

 spring. As the crape myrtle blooms almost continu- 

 ously for a period of 2 or 3 months (beginning in June 

 far S.), it well repays what care may be given it under 

 glass or in regions where it is not fully hardy. 



speciSsa, Pers. (Munchaitsia speciosa, Linn. L. 

 Flos-Reginae, Retz. L. Reglnx, Roxbg.). Tree, 50-60 

 ft., with elliptic or long-lanceolate obtuse Ivs. 4-8 in. 

 long: panicle large; fls. 2-3 in. across, varying from rose 

 to purple from morning to evening, the calyx grooved, 

 the petals erose-wavy: caps, 1 in. or more long. India. 

 G.C. III. 15:77. A noble plant in Trop. India; also 

 intro. in S. Calif. In the Old World sometimes grown 

 under glass and on walls out-of-doors. L. H. B. 



LAGETTA (native name in Jamaica). Thymelseacese. 

 LACE-BARK. Three W. Indian trees, one of which, 

 L. lintearia, Lam., is familiar in Jamaica as yielding 

 the beautiful and deli- 

 cate lace-like material 

 derived from many 

 layers of the inner 

 bark; this material has 

 the look of a gauzy 

 fabric, and it is used in 

 the making of many 

 articles of ornament 

 and use. Sometimes 

 the tree is grown under 

 glass in collections of 



economic plants It 2 061. One flower of Lagerstrremia 

 grows 20-60 It. high: indica. (Natural size) 



