WOODY PLANTS FOR NEW ENGLAND 37 



Larix leptolepis (L. Kaempferi) Japanese Larch 



This is one of the more handsome and quick-growing species of a group 

 which, because of botanical association and aspect are often classed facetiously 

 as "deciduous evergreens." It will grow into a tall tree of fine texture which 

 in winter displays a reddish cast to its young branches. All larches are subject 

 to attack by serious insect enemies and disease. 



Laurel — See Kalmia 



LAVANDULA SPIGA Spike Lavender 



Though capable in milder climates of getting up to some three feet in height, 

 this familar, gray-leaved, lavender-flowered plant seems to benefit from severe 

 cutting back in spring. So treated, it has a place in the rock garden. 



Leatherleaf — See Chamaedaphne 

 Leatherwood — See Dirca 



LEDUM GROENLANDICUM LABRADOR-TEA 



An upright, evergreen shrub of northern bogs and mountain slopes. Its 

 inch-long, evergreen leaves have brown-felted undersurfaces, and its whitish 

 flowers appear in May or June. Var. GOMPAGTUM has been described but 

 probably is not available in this country. 



LEIOPHYLLUM BUXIFOLIUM Box Sandmyrtlb 



A low, evergreen shrub which appears in various phases throughout the 

 eastern seaboard. Of the taller forms, one of the best is that found wild in. 

 the sand barrens of New Jersey. This northern form makes a neat bush up to 

 some eighteen inches in height with interesting, small, shining, evergreen foliage 

 and white flowers in May or June. In garden value it is comparable to var. 

 HUGERI. This and the slower-growing, more prostrate var. PROSTRATUM 

 from the Carolina mountains are both fine rock-garden plants. If handled as 

 large plants, any of these forms had best be cut to the ground at time of trans- 

 planting. 



LESPEDEZA THUNBERGII (L.formosa) (Desmodium pendulifiorum) 



Purple Bushclover 



A "die-back," root-hardy, multiple-branched shrub which forms a five- 



or six-foot, herbaceous-appearing mass of pendulous stems terminating in 



late summer in panicles of rosy-purple flowers. Much used in the bays of large 



shrub plantings or sometimes for informal hedges. 



LEUCOTHOE CATESBAEI DROOPING LEUCOTHOE 



A tall, slow-growing, evergreen shrub with shining leaves ranged along arch- 

 ing branches which terminate in racemes of white, bell-shaped flowers in late 

 spring. When used in general ericaceous plantings in the North, it is prone 

 to burn badly in early spring or to become ragged as it grows older. Hence, 

 in cultivation it had best be planned for as a relatively small shrub kept down 

 by annual removal of old or winter-injured branches at ground level. So 

 treated, it becomes well worth while. 



Leucothoe racemosa SWEET BELLS 



A native, deciduous shrub having pleasant foliage, racemes of white flowers 

 in late spring, and brilliant autumn foliage color. Useful for roadside or wild 

 plantings. Not as valuable in gardens as Enkianthus or Vaccinium corymbosum. 



LIGUSTRUM AMURENSE Amur Privet 



This privet makes up in hardiness what lack of foliage luster it may have 



