1844 



LEPTOTES 



LESPEDEZA 



creeping rhizome and bearing 1-3 fleshy linear Ivs. and 

 a slender but rigid, terminal raceme: sepals and petals 

 nearly equal, spreading; labellum joined to the base of 

 the column; lateral lobes large, spreading or small, 

 auricle-like, middle lobe large, entire, contracted at 

 base, column with 2 wide wings; pollinia 4 perfect and 

 2 imperfect. Six species in Brazil and W. Indies. Cult, 

 as for laelia. 



bicolor, Lindl. (Tetramlcra bicolor, Rolfe). Lys. 

 solitary on the short st., semi-cylindric, with a furrow in 

 front, 3-4 in. long: raceme few-fld., shorter than the 

 Ivs.; sepals and petals white, linear-incurved, over 1 

 in. long; lateral lobes of the lip small, folding over the 

 column; terminal lobe oblong-lanceolate, bright rose, 

 with white tip and margins. A pretty plant. B.R. 

 1625. A.F. 6:633. Gn. 59, p. 77. Var. glaucophylla, 

 Hook. Lvs. glaucous. B.M. 3734. 



L. unicolor, Rodr. Habit pendulous: fls>. pale lilac: Ivs. fleshy. 



Brazil. 



HEINRICH HASSELBRING. 



LESCHENAULTIA (named for L. T. Lechenault, 

 botanical traveler in the far E.). Written also Lechen- 

 aultia. Goodenidcex. About 20 species as understood 

 by the latest monographer (Krause, in Engler's Pflan- 

 zenreich, hft. 54, 1912) of herbs and heath-like shrubs 

 of Austral., sometimes grown under glass: glabrous or 

 rarely hirsute: Ivs. heath-like, scattered or crowded, 

 narrow and entire: fls. yellow, red, violet or greenish, 

 solitary or corymbed, showy, with a slender tube and 

 large limb; calyx-tube adnate to ovary, the lobes 5 and 

 linear or lanceolate; corolla oblique, the tube usually 

 slit to the base, on the back, the lobes connivent or 

 spreading; anthers mostly cohering around the style; 

 indusium (or dilated top of style) 2-lipped with a partial 



ring of hairs outside: caps, linear, 4-valved, dehiscent. 

 The leschenaultias require special care in watering, 

 and an open soil with plenty of fiber and sand. They 

 are very handsome hardwooded plants for greenhouse 

 growing, but seldom seen in this country. 



L. biloba, Lindl. Shrub, 1-3 ft.: Ivs. not greatly crowded, about 

 54 or J^in. long: fls. blue and handsome, the corolla about Min. 

 long, either few on the shoot or corymbed; lobes of corolla longer 

 than tube, spreading, with dark blue veined wings and a point or 

 mucro between. W. Austral. L. formdsa, R. Br. (L. multiflora, 

 Lodd. L. Baxteri, Don). Spreading and much branched, 1-2 ft.: 

 Ivs. rather loosely scattered, ^in. or less long: fls. solitary, red; 

 corolla-tube split to base, 5 lines or less long; corolla somewhat bila- 

 biate, the upper lobes broad and rounded, erect and connivent and 

 shorter than the large and spreading lower ones. W. Austral. B.M. 

 2600. B.R. 916. L.B.C. 16:1579. L. grandifldra, Lindl., is a 

 large-fld. form of L. biloba. L. laricina, Lindl. (L. splendens, 

 Hook.). Much branched, erect, 1 ft.: Ivs. fine, rather crowded: fls. 

 white to lilac to red, sessile in upper axils; tube of corolla Jiin. long, 

 slit to base; lobes of corolla all similar, usually shorter than the 

 tube. W. Austral. B.M. 4256. F.S. 2:176. H.F. II. 6:14. L. 

 splendens, Hook.=L. laricina. T TT R 



LESPEDEZA (D. Lespedez was a Spanish governor 

 of Florida, who aided the botanist Michaux). Legumi- 

 nbsse. BUSH CLOVER. Small shrubs or herbs with pea- 

 shaped flowers in racemes or heads, some of them very 

 ornamental but mostly not showy; one extensively 

 used for forage. 



Leaves pinnately 3-foliolate or rarely 1-foliolate, 

 the Ifts. entire and wanting stipels: calyx-lobes nearly 

 equal, sometimes subulate ; anthers usually 9 and 1 : pod 

 short and 1-seeded (and in this differing from Desmo- 

 dium, which has jointed pods). Species 40 or more, 

 in N. Amer., Asia and Austral., most of them not 

 known horticulturally. In some of the lespedezas 

 there are 2 kinds of fls., petal-bearing and mostly 

 sterile, apetalous and mostly fertile. There are a 

 number of native lespedezas, usually of dry lands, some 

 of which are offered by dealers in native plants, but they 

 are not very showy and are most in place in natural 

 borders and in amateur collections. These species 

 thrive in light, dry soils. Because of the grayish or 

 brownish color of the foliage, they are sometimes useful 

 in landscape gardening work, and they are hardy, and 

 of easiest cult.; perennial. Two or 3 of the oriental 

 species are now becoming popular. L. striata is the 

 Japan clover of the S., and is a valuable forage and 

 green-manure plant. L. bicolor is a low shrub, with 

 small violet-purple fls., hardy in New England, but 

 little known in cult. The most important ornamental 

 members of the genus thus far well known are L. 

 Sieboldii and L. japonica, which are hardy herbs or sub- 

 shrubs sending up many strong wiry shoots each year, 

 and blooming profusely in Sept. and Oct. Their late 

 bloom is very desirable. All lespedezas are of the easiest 

 cult, wherever hardy. Usually increased by division 

 of the clumps. L. Sieboldii is readily prop, by green- 

 wood cuttings under glass. 



albiftora, 10. 

 bicolor, 8, 19. 

 capitata, 2. 

 formosa, 9. 

 frutescens, 6. 



INDEX. 



hirta, 1. 

 intermedia, 6. 

 japonica, 10. 

 Nuttallii, 4. 

 racemosa, 9. 



Sieboldii, 9, 10. 

 striata, 7. 

 Stuvei, 5, 6. 

 violacea, 3. 



2134. Lespedeza bicolor. 



A. Occidental or native lespedezas: of upright or erect habit, 



not showy: stipules and fl.-bracts minute, subulate. 



B. Fls. whitish or yellowish, all complete. 



1. hirta, Ell. Erect, 2-4 ft. tall, silky-pubescent: 

 petioles shorter than the Ivs.; Ifts. nearly orbicular to 

 long-ovate: fls. in oblong or cylindrical heads on pedun- 

 cles that usually exceed the Ivs.: pod scarcely shorter 

 than calyx, oblong-ovate, pubescent. Dry soils, New 

 England to Fla. and West. Mn. 8:181. There is a 

 form with oblong Ifts. 



2. capitata, Michx. Much like the last, but petioles 

 very short, Ifts. narrow-oblong or oval, and the fl.- 

 heads dense and short-peduncled (peduncles shorter 

 than Ivs.). Range of the above. 



