LAV 



LAV 



plant, wiih an upright branching woolly stalk 

 two fed high : the leaves hoary, opposite, cut 

 into many ilivisions to the midrib : these seg- 

 ments are again divided on their borders towards 

 the lop into three blunt ones, so that they end 

 in many points : the peduncle is continued from 

 the end of the branch, is naked, and about six 

 fnches long, quadrangular, and terminated by a 

 close spike of flowers about one inch lona; : the 

 rows of flowers are twisted spirally. There are 

 commonly two small spikes below this, and about 

 an inch from it : the corolla varies from blue to 

 while. It is a native of Spam. 



There is a variety winch rises with an upright, 

 branching, square stalk, four feet high ; the 

 leaves long;er, and cut into narrower segments 

 than the Spanish plant : they are of a liglitcr 

 green, and almost smooth : the naked fiower- 

 sfalk is also much longer, and terminated with 

 a cluster of spikes of blue flowers : at two or 

 three inches below these are two small spikes, 

 one on each side: the flowers arc smaller than 

 those of th' first sort. It is a native of the Ca- 

 nary Islands. 



Cii/'ure. — All the sorts are readily increased, 

 by planting slips or cuttings of their voung shoots 

 in the spring. 



In the first two sorts, a quantity of slips or 

 cuuings should be taken off" in the early spring, 

 as JNlarch or April, from three or four to six 

 inches long, vtripping off the under-leaves, then 

 planting them in a shady border, four inches 

 asunder, giving a good watering, and repeating 

 it occasionally in dry weather. When the plants 

 -are well rooted in summer, they should be trans- 

 planted into the place were they are to grow, 

 early in autumn, as September or October, with 

 balls of earth about their roots. 



When the first sort is intended to produce 

 flowers for economical purposes, it should 

 be planted in rows, two or three feet asunder, 

 and about the same distance in the rows, or in a 

 single row one or two feet asunder, along the 

 edge or divisions of garden-grounds, in a sort 

 of edging or dwarf hedge ; in either of w hlch 

 modes ihe plants grow Irecly, continuing in root, 

 stem and branches several years, and produce 

 abundance cif spikes of flowers annually for Slather- 

 ing in the latter end of summer: the culture 

 afterwards is ])rincipally to cut down any re- 

 maining decayed flower-stalks in autumn, prun- 

 ing or cutting away any disorderly out-growing 

 branches at top and sides, and digging the 

 ground occasionally in spring or autumn along 

 the rows of plants. 



The second sort may also often be raised from 

 seeds, which should be sown in a bed of light 

 earth ia the early spring, and raked in evenly 



■with a light hand. The plants rise in about a 

 month, when, if there be dry weather, water 

 should be given : and after thev are three 

 inches high, they should be pricked out in beds, 

 half a foot apart, wa^ermg them as they reipiire, 

 until fresh rooted, i hey should stand here till 

 the following spring, and then be thinned out, 

 and planted where they are to remain. 



The two first sorts arc useful for their fine 

 spikes of flowers, as well as ornamental in as- 

 semblage with other shrubby plants, in the 

 borders and clumps of pleasure-grounds ; and 

 the two last sorts in green-house collections 

 with other potted plants. 



Those designed for shrubberies or other similar 

 places, being previously raised to some tolerable 

 bushy growth, and a foot high or more, should 

 be planted either in the early autumn, or in the 

 spruig, disposing Ihem singly at proper distances 

 in the fronts. 



The third and fourth sorts may be increased 

 by slips and cuttings, planted in pots m the early 

 spring months, and placed under frames, due wa- 

 ter and shade from the n)ld-day sun being given 

 till they are rooted ; and when a little advanced in 

 growth, transplanted into se[)arate small pots, and 

 ■ managed as other green-house exotic plants. 



LAVATL'.RA, a genus containing plants of 

 the herbaceous shrubby perennial kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Monadclphia 

 Pohjnyulrla, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Co I am/life roe. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a double 

 perianthium : exterior one-leafed, irifid, obtuse, 

 short, permanent : interior one-leafed, half five- 

 cleft, more acute, more erect, permanent : the 

 corolla has five obcordate flat petals, spreading, 

 affixed below to the tube of the stamens: the 

 stamina have numerous filaments, coalesein.g- 

 below into a tube; loose above (gaping at the 

 tip and surface of the tube) : anthers reniform : 

 the pistillum is an orbicular germ : style cylin- 

 dric, short: stigmas several (seven to founeen), 

 bristly, length of the style:, the pericarpium is 

 an orbicular capsule, composed of as many cells 

 as there are stigmas, bivalve, and articulated in 

 a whorl round the columnar receptacle, at length 

 falling off: the seeds solitary and reniform. 



The species cultivated are: 1. L. Crelica^ 

 Cretin Lavatera ; 2. L. tiimeslrh, ConmiotV 

 Annual Lavatera; 3. L. Tlmririgiaca, Great- 

 flowered Lavatera ; 4. L. arborea, Tree Lavatera, 

 or Mallow ; 5. L. Olihi, Downy-leaved Lava- 

 tera ; 6. L. triloba, Three-lobed Lavatera; J.. 

 L. Lmitaiika, Portuguese Lavatera. 



The first has an annual fibrous root of thick 

 fibres, a foot in length, with innumerable other 

 capillary fibres : the stem round, rugged, five 



