1832 



LAYERS 



LECYTHIS 



In the case of vines, a cane may be laid horizontally in 

 a shallow trench, covering a few inches to induce root- 

 ing, and leaving a node or two exposed for growth, and 

 so on to the end, as shown by Fig. 2122. After young 

 shoots are well started from the uncovered buds, the 

 earth may be filled in to the level of the ground line. 



In Fig. 2123 is shown what is often called the serpen- 

 tine layer, in which the cane is bent, parts being cov- 

 ered and the intervals left above the ground. It is held 

 that by this means the tendency of the sap to flow to the 

 extremity and there make the strongest growth, is over- 

 come, and even rooting secured the whole length 

 of the cane. This method is often used with quick- 

 growing vines like clematis and wistaria, from 

 which it is possible to secure a succession of 

 layers from the annual growth in spring and 

 early summer. 



The "tips" of black raspberries are layers of a 

 special kind. In this case, the cane bends over 

 and takes root at its end, thereby providing a 

 natural means of propagation. Many plants pro- 

 duce stolons, or shoots springing from the crown 

 and having a strong tendency to take root at 

 joints or tip; this attribute is sometimes indicated 

 in the name of the plant, as Cornus stolonifera. 



All of the foregoing operations are more readily 

 successful in the more moist situations; more suc- 

 cessful in the nearly saturated atmosphere of the 

 southern states, for instance, than in the compara- 

 tively dry conditions of the prairie states. 



S. C. MASON. 



LAYIA (Thomas Lay, naturalist in the Beechey voy- 

 Compositae. Annual herbs with yellow or white 

 flowers in spring or early summer. 



Leaves chiefly alternate, all entire or some, particu- 

 larly the lower, pinnately toothed or lobed: fls. about 

 1-1 % in. across, and the rays distinctly 3-toothed; 

 ray-fls. 8-20; disk-fls. fertile, their tubular corollas 5- 

 toothed. About 13 W. American species. The species 

 described below are diffuse, much-branched and about 

 a foot high. For general cult, they are probably 

 inferior to Madia elegans, which 

 has a similar habit and is dis- 

 tinguished by the blood-colored 

 spot at the base of the rays. It 

 is probable that for best results 

 they should be started early 

 indoors, and transplanted out- 

 doors in May. Easy to grow. 



2122. A horizontal multiple layer. 



A. Rays entirely white. 



glandulosa, Hook & Arn. WHITE DAISY. One-half 

 to 2 ft. tall, the st. hispid, sometimes glandular: Ivs. 

 1-1 % in. long, 2-3 lines broad, linear, the upper ones 

 all entire : rays 8-13, white or sometimes tinged with rose. 

 B.M. 6856. Brit. Col and Idaho to Mex. Cultivated 

 in California and very desirable on account of its 

 pure white rays. 



AA. Rays yellow, sometimes tipped white. 



B. Plants hairy. 



elegans, Torr. & Gray. TIDY TIPS. All the upper Ivs. 

 entire: rays 10-12, yellow, rarely white-tipped; pappus 

 white or whitish, its copious villous hairs much shorter 

 than the awn-shaped bristles, which are long plumose 

 below the middle. This and the next have a few small, 

 scattered, stalked glands which are wanting from the 

 last two. Calif. Gn. 31, p. 465. G. 30:567. G.W. 17: 



464. Perhaps the best of the genus. Var. ilba, Hort., 

 is a pure white form. 



platyglossa, Gray. TIDY TIPS. Some of the upper Ivs. 

 pinnatifid: rays light yellow, commonly white-tipped; 

 pappus of stout, awn-like bristles which are upwardly 

 scabrous. Calif. B.M. 3719. 



BB. Plants not hairy or at most minutely pubescent. 

 Calligl6ssa,Gray (Calliglossa Douglasii, Hook. & Arn.) . 

 Achenes villous-pubescent or partly glabrate: rays yel- 

 low, white-tipped; pappus of 10-18 very unequal and 

 rigid awl-shaped awns. Central 

 Calif. B.R. 1850 (erroneously as 

 Oxyura chrysanthemoides) . Per- 

 haps not cult, outside of botanic 

 gardens. 



Douglasii, Hook. & Arn. (L. 

 chrysanthemoides, Gray. Oxyura 

 chrysanthemoides, DC.). Achenes 

 wholly glabrous, broader: 



2123. Serpentine layering. 



pappus none. Fls. yellow, only the tips of the rays 

 white. A confused species. 



L. gaillardioides, Hook. & Arn. Branching rather freely, hispid, 

 8 in. or more high: heads rather large; rays orange-yellow. G.C. 

 I"- 32 = 61. N.TAYLOR.t 



LEAD PLANT: Amorpha canescens. 



LEAD WORT: Plumbago. 



LEATHER FLOWER: Clematis Viorna. L. Jacket: Eucalpytus 

 punctata. L. Leaf: Chamsedaphne. L. Wood: Dirca palustris; also 

 Cyrilla. 



LEBLDIEROPSIS (Greek; like Lebidiera, a related 

 genus now included in Cleistanthus) . Euphorbidcese. 

 The genus contains but 1 species, a tree once catalogued 

 in S. Fla., probaby not now in cult, in Amer. Lvs. 

 alternate, simple, entire: fls. small, in axillary clusters; 

 calyx of staminate fls. valvate; petals small; stamens 5, 

 filaments united; ovules 2 in each of the 3 cells of the 

 ovary: seeds globose, cotyledons thick and flat. 



orbicularis, Muell. Arg. (Cleistdnthus colllnus, Benth.). 

 Lvs. 1^2-4 in. long, 1^-3 in. wide, leathery, broadly 

 ovate or elliptic, tip rounded or retuse, glaucous be- 

 neath, 5-8 pairs of nerves: fls. silky, 3-6 in a cluster; 

 petals fleshy, narrow: seeds 2 lines thick, chestnut- 

 brown. India. Variable in If.-form and hairiness. 



J. B. S. NORTON. 



LECYTHIS (Greek for an oil-jar, from the shape of 

 frs.). Lecyihidacex. One of a group of interesting Trop. 

 American genera, comprising Couroupita, Grias, Jap- 

 arandiba, Bertholletia. The species of Lecythis are 

 shrubs or trees, one or two of which have been grown 

 under glass abroad for their showy red fls. L. Zabucajo, 

 Aubl., yields the excellent sapucaya nuts, resembling 

 Brazil-nuts and superior to them. L. Ollaria, Linn., the 

 monkey-pot, yields a regular urn-shaped fr. or box 

 with a lid or cover. Lecythis is of perhaps 40 species, of 

 the habit of Couroupita but fls. smaller, in Trop. S. 

 Amer.: Ivs. alternate, coriaceous, entire or serrate: fls. 

 usually large, in panicles or racemes; calyx with a 

 turbinate tube and 4 or 6 segms.; petals usually 6, 

 sometimes 4, nearly equal; stamens many, united in a 

 hood-shaped body with the fertile anthers beneath: fr. 

 leathery or woody, odd, globose or cup-shaped or urn- 

 shaped with an operculum; seeds few, often large. 

 None of the species seems to be of horticultural impor- 

 tance within our range. 



