LEPACHYS 



LEPTOCHILUS 



1841 



higher in cult.: st.-lvs. with 5-9 divisions, which are 

 oblong to linear in outline and sometimes 2-3-clef t : fls. 

 solitary, terminating the branches; rays yellow; style- 

 tips short, obtuse. Prairies, Saskatchewan to Texas 

 and Rocky Mts. B.M. 1601. Mn. 1:65. 



Var. pulcherrima, Torr. & Gray (Obeliscaria pul- 

 cherrima, DC.), differs only in having the rays partly 



or wholly brown- 

 purple. The plants 

 in the trade are 

 mostly margined 

 with yellow or 

 have about half 

 of each color. 

 Gn. 51:98. R.H. 

 1854:421. Var. 

 tdtuspurpftreus, 

 Hort. D. M. 

 Andrews, is "a 

 ^ variety with dark 

 fx-orange -brown 

 rays, almost 

 black." 



AA. Rays oblong- 

 lanceolate, very 

 much longer 

 than the disk: 

 If.-segms. lan- 

 ceolate. 



pinnata, Torr. 

 & Gray (Ratibida 

 pinnata, Barnh.). 

 Slender, 3-5 ft. 

 high: Ivs. with 3-7 

 Ifts., which are lan- 

 ceolate, sparsely 

 serrate, sometimes 

 lobed, the upper- 

 most run together, 

 very rough-hairy: 

 rays yellow, often 2 in. or more long. W. N. Y. to la., 

 south to La. B.M. 2310. Gn. 47:418; 51, p. 205. It is 

 at home in a sunny border. j jj COWEN. 



N. TAYLOR-t 



LEPANTHES (scale flower). Orchidacese. Some forty 

 species of the mountains and upper parts of Mex., Cent. 

 Amer., W. Indies and S. Amer., epiphytic, monophyl- 

 lous, allied to Pleurothallis but differing in bearing 

 club-shaped pollinia and a usually 2-parted lip that is 

 adnate to the column. None is offered, and the species 

 are of little importance horticulturally. 



LEPICYSTIS: Poly-podium. 



LEPIDAGATHIS (Greek, scale and ball, in allusion 

 to the curved infl.). Acanthacese. Tropical herbs and 

 shrubs; one is in horticultural literature as a warm- 

 house evergreen shrub. It is L. cristata, Willd., in 

 Trop. India, with purplish fls., linear or oblong nearly 

 glabrous Ivs. and spinose-acuminate bracts and bracte- 

 oles: fls. in globose clusters or heads near the base of 

 the plant; corolla Hin long, in bud densely hairy, white 

 with purple or brown spots: sts. 6-24 in., procumbent. 

 Lepidagathis has about 50 species, of which two are in 

 the American tropics and the others in the Old World. 

 It is little known to cultivators. 



LEPIDIUM (from Greek for little scale, alluding to 

 the small flat pods). Cruciferse. CRESS. PEPPER- 

 GRASS. Small mostly unattractive herbs (or rarely 

 subshrubs), one of which is a salad plant. See Cress. 



Annual, biennial or perennial, erect or spreading, 

 with many small white fls.: Ivs. very various, simple 

 to more or less bipinnate: fls. mostly racemose, often 

 with leafy bracts intervening; petals small or wanting; 



117 



2133. Lepachys columnaris. (XK) 



stamens 2-6 : pod circular, flattened against or contrary 

 to the partition; seed 1 in each cell; cotyledons in most 

 cases incumbent. Perhaps 100 species in many parts 

 of the world. There are about 20 native species, mostly 

 western, and several intro. weedy species. The foliage 

 and pods have an aromatic-peppery flavor. The herbage 

 of some species is used as salad, and the pods are some- 

 times fed to tame birds (whence the name "canary 

 grass"). There are no species of much ornamental 

 value. 



sativum, Linn. GARDEN CRESS. Annual, 1-2 ft., 

 glaucous when in fl. and fr., glabrous: fls. small and 

 inconspicuous, in an elongating raceme: pods nearly 

 circular, bifid at the apex, winged: Ivs. exceedingly 

 various, but usually the radical ones pinnately divided 

 and subdivided, the central cauline ones 2-3-cleft, 

 nearly to the base and the segms. entire or toothed, the 

 uppermost simple and entire. W. Asia, but widely 

 disseminated as a cult, plant, and sparingly run wild in 

 the northern part of the U. S. and Canada. Under 

 cult, the foliage varies immensely. The curled sorts 

 have Ivs. as finely cut as curled parsley. On Australian 

 cress, which is a golden-lvd. form, there are sometimes 

 on the same plant broad-spatulate, ragged-edged Ivs., 

 cut Ivs., and simple linear Ivs. 



Other lepidiums are sometimes eaten, but are not in the trade 

 and are of little importance. One of these is the common L. vir- 

 ginicum, Linn., wild in the U. S., and known as pepper-grass. 



L. H. B. 



LEPTACTINA (Greek, graceful rays, referring to the 

 star-like aspect of the flower) . Also written Leptactinia. 

 Rubiacese. Showy shrubs, glabrous or puberulent, leafy: 

 Ivs. opposite, glossy; stipules broad-ovate and mostly 

 rather large: fls. in dense terminal cymes, like ixoras, 

 white. The genus contains about 25 species, all 

 Trop. African shrubs, important generic characters 

 being the large calyx-lobes, very long corolla-tube, 5 

 included stamens, style-branches free or connate, large 

 lax stipules, and clustered infl. 



L. Mdnnii, Hook. f. Branching shrub, 6 ft. high: Ivs. 5J^ in. long, 

 2 Yt in. wide and larger in proportion, oval, wavy-margined, obtuse, 

 with gobose green bodies between the insertions of the Ivs., which 

 are stipules: calyx-tube 3 lines long, lobes 1 in. or more long, leafy; 

 corolla silky within, lobes lanceolate; stamens 5, included; style 

 hairy above, 2-branched. B.M. 7367. A very interesting white- 

 fid. shrub for growing under glass, apparently not offered in this 

 country. L R g 



LEPTANDRA: Veronica. 



LEPTARRHENA (name refers to the slender or thin 

 anthers). Saxifragacese. One perennial caulescent 

 herb, L. pyrolifolia, R. Br. (L. amplexifolia, R. Br. 

 Saxifraga pyrolifolia, Don), from Kamtschatka and 

 Alaska to Wash., some tunes mentioned in horticultural 

 literature: caudices short and leafy, the Ivs. alternate, 

 leathery and evergreen, toothed, narrow to base, the 

 radical ones 1-4 in. long and obovate to oblong or 

 spatulate, those on the fl.-stalks 1 or 2 and clasping: 

 fls. small, white, in bracted panicles, on scape-like sts. 

 8-16 in. high; sepals 5, erect; petals 5, narrow, persist- 

 ent; stamens 10; ovary of 2 nearly distinct carpels, 

 becoming follicles. Probably a good plant for wild- 

 gardening where proper conditions can be found; 

 recorded as growing "in high mountain marshes." 



L. H. B. 

 LEPTINELLA: Cotula. 



LEPTOCARPHA (name refers to the slender scales 

 or chaff). Composite. A subshrub from Chile and 

 Peru that has been grown abroad for the yellow fl. -heads. 

 L. rivularis, DC., the only species, has alternate or 

 sometimes opposite ovate, toothed, and scabrid Ivs. 

 about 2 in. long, and heads about 1 in. diam. A half- 

 hardy or greenhouse plant allied to Helianthus. 



LEPTOCHILUS (from the Greek referring to the 

 linear form of the fruiting frond). Polypodiaceas. A 

 group of moderate-sized tropical ferns, allied to Dryop- 



