LOBLOLLY BAY. 



LOCUST. 



kinds do well in a light, rich earth, or peat soil ; 

 but in winter most of them require the protec- . 

 lion of a frame. The green-house annuals and I 

 biennials must be sown in pots, and treated as 

 other green-house annuals and biennials. The 

 seeds of the hardy kinds have only to be sown 

 in the open border. L. longiflora is one of the 

 most venomous of plants. Barton says the 

 Spanish Americans call it Eebenta cavallos, be- 

 cause it proves fatal to horses that eat it, swell- 

 ing them till they burst. Taken internally, it 

 acts as a violent cathartic, the effects of which 

 no remedy can assuage, and which terminate 

 in death. Another American species, namely, 

 L. injltita, commonly called Indian Tobacco, is 

 a powerful antispasmodic and emetic, and is 

 much employed to allay the paroxysm of spas- 

 modic asthma. There are two indigenous spe- 

 cies : 1. The water lobelia (L. Dartuuuina}, 

 which grows in the lakes of Wales, Scotland, 

 Ireland, and the north of England. The root 

 consists of many long, simple, 'whitish fibres. 

 Herb smooth, immersed in water like the Hot- 

 tonia. Leaves numerous, two inches long, 

 linear, entire, with two longitudinal cells. The 

 stem is nearly naked, terminating in a simple 

 cluster of light-blue, drooping, alternate flowers, 

 raised several inches above the water, which 

 appear in July and August. 



2. Acrid lobelia (L. wens'). This grows wild 

 on bushy heaths in Devonshire. The root is 

 fibrous ; stem a foot or more in height, nearly 

 upright ; lower leaves ovate, slightly toothed ; 

 upper lanceolate, serrated ; the flowers are in 

 erect clusters, terminal, of a purplish-blue co- 

 lour, appearing in August and September. The 

 whole herb is milky, fetid, and very acrid. 



LOBLOLLY BAY (Gordonia lasyanthus). 

 This American tree is comprehended within 

 the same limits with the long-leaved pine, being 

 confined to the maritime parts of the Southern 

 States, to the two Floridas, and to Lower Loui- 

 siana. It is very abundant in the branch 

 swamps, and exists in greater proportion than 

 the red bay, swamp bay, and black gum, with 

 which it is usually associated. In the pine 

 barrens, tracts of 50 or 100 acres are met with 

 at intervals, which, being lower than the adja- 

 cent ground, are kept constantly moist by the 

 waters collected in them after the great rains. 

 These spots are entirely covered with the lob- 

 lolly bay, and are called bay swamps. Although 

 the layer of vegetable mould is only 3 or 4 

 inches thick, and reposes upon a bed of barren 

 sand, the vegetation of these trees is surpris- 



ingly luxuriant. 

 The 



loblolly bay grows to the height of 50 or 

 60 feet, with a diameter of 18 or 20 inches. 

 For 25 to 30 feet its trunk is perfectly straight. 

 The small divergency of its branches near the 

 trunk gives it a regularly pyramidal form; but 

 as they ascend they spread more loosely, like 

 those of other trees of the forest. 



The leaves are evergreen, from 3 to 6 inches 

 long, alternate, oval-acuminate, slightly toothed, 

 and smooth and shining on the upper surface. 

 The flowers are more than an inch broad, white 

 and sweet-scented; they begin to appear about 

 the middle of July, and bloom in succession 

 during 2 or 3 months. This tree possesses 



the agreeable singularity of bearing flowers 

 when it is only 3 or 4 feet high. 



The fruit is an oval capsule, divided into 

 5 compartments, each of which contains small, 

 black, winged seeds. These seeds appear to 

 germinate successfully only in places covered 

 with sphagnum, a species of moss which co- 

 piously imbibes water, and in which are found 

 thousands of the young plants, which are 

 plucked up with ease. 



The bark of the loblolly bay is very smooth 

 while the tree is less than 6 inches in diame- 

 ter ; on old trees it is thick and deeply furrowed. 

 In trunks which exceed 15 inches in diameter, 

 four-fifths of the wood is heart. The wood is 

 of a rosy hue, and of a fine, silky texture : it 

 appears to be very proper for the inside of fur- 

 niture, though the cypress is generally prefer- 

 red. It is extremely light: when seasoned it 

 is very brittle, and it rapidly decays unless it 

 is kept perfectly dry: hence it is entirely neg- 

 lected in use, and is not employed even for fuel. 



The value of the loblolly bark in tanning 

 compensates in some measure for the useless- 

 ness of its wood: it is employed for this pur- 

 pose throughout the maritime parts of the South- 

 ern States and of the Floridas. For, although 

 this branch of industry is by no means as ex- 

 tensively practised in this part of the country 

 as in the Northern States, and though these 

 regions afford many species of oak, yet the 

 species whose bark is proper for tanning are 

 not sufficiently multiplied to supply the con- 

 sumption. As much of the bark of the Spanish 

 oak as can be obtained, of which the price is 

 one-half greater, is mixed with that of the lob- 

 lolly bay. This tree has the advantage of 

 maintaining very long the circulation of its 

 sap, so that the bark may be taken off during 

 three or four months. 



The luxuriance of its vegetation, the beauty 

 of its flowers, and the richness of its evergreen 

 foliage place the loblolly bay among the mag- 

 nolias ; and, with the other species, it contri- 

 butes to the ornament of the forests in the 

 southern parts of the United States. It is less 

 sensible to cold than the big laurel. (Mirhaux.} 



LOBLOLLY PINE (Pinus tada\ See FIHS. 



LOCKED-JAW. See TETAIJUS. 



LOCKING OF WHEELS. The means of 

 fastening them so as to prevent their running 

 too swiftly upon the horses, when coming down 

 steep hills. This is effected in various ways ; 

 as by chains, sledges, friction-bars, &c. See 

 WHKEL, and WAGOW. 



LOCULAR. A. term in botany. A fruit is 

 called unilocular if it contains but one cell, bi- 

 locular if it contains two cells, and so on. In 

 many instances, one or more of the cells are 

 abortive, and become obliterated as the fruit 

 ripens. 



LOCUST. A name given by the English to 

 the large grasshoppers, but which, in the United 

 States, and indeed almost universally, is applied 

 to the group of insects which naturalists have 

 termed Cicadians, and which are also called 

 harvest-flies. 



These insects are readily distinguished by 

 their broad heads, the large and very convex 

 eyes on each side, and the three eyelets on the 

 3 Q 733 



