900 



LEMON 



LEONTICE 



time. Proper storage, or curing, as it is generally called, 

 results in thinning and toughening the rind so that it 

 has-a pliable character, a silky finish and is not easily 

 bruised in handling. Very costly curing houses have 

 sometimes been found defective in not readily disposing 

 of the products of evaporation from the fresh fruit. At 

 present, simpler constructions, consisting in thoroughly 

 ventilated inner apartments for the fruit, with outer 

 walls and double roof to protect the interior against 

 wide temperature changes in the outer air, are giving 

 very satisfactory results. The fruit needs freedom from 

 extremes of temperature, abundant ventilation and yet 

 no intrusion of wind or air currents and the absence of 

 light. When these are secured, the fruit ripens slowly, 

 assumes a beautiful, characteristic color and is then 

 good for long keeping or distant shipment. It is essen- 

 tial to secure uniform size, and this is done by picking 

 without regard to ripeness as soon as a fruit reaches a 

 certain size. The result is that the fruit is picked be- 

 fore any sign of coloring appears. The standard is 

 2% inches in diameter, as measured with an iron 

 ring which the picker carries. The diameter decreases 

 one-eighth of an inch during curing. Late-ripening 

 fruit, for quick sale, may be allowed to get a little 

 larger, but no fruit should be above 2% inches in diame- 

 ter. All fruit must be cut and not plucked from the 

 trees, and until the final packing for shipment, should 

 be handled in shallow trays or boxes, piled with air 

 spaces between them so that the air may circulate and 

 remove the exhalations. E. J. WICKSON. 



LEMON VERBENA is Lippia. 

 LEMON VINE is Pereskia. 

 LEMONIA. See Ravenia. 



LENS (ancient Latin name of the Lentil). Legumi- 

 ndsce. This genus includes the Lentil, Lens esculenta, 

 one of the oldest and still one of the most important 

 food-plants for man, especially in the warmer parts of 

 the Old World and the Orient. It is a much-branched 

 tufted annual 1-lj^ feet high. The leaves have numerous 

 leaflets and end in a tendril. The flowers are small, 

 white or pale blue, axillary and borne in pairs. The 

 pods are short and broad, very flat, and contain 2 flat 

 seeds which are rounded in outline and convex on both 

 sides. The lens of the astronomer and physicist was 

 named because it was shaped like one of these seeds. 

 Some varieties have gray seeds, others red. Esau sold 

 his birthright to Jacob for a mess of red pottage made 

 of Lentils. Lentils are used chiefly for soups and 

 stews. They are a coarser and 'cheaper food than fresh 

 peas and beans, and about as palatable as split peas. 

 Lentils rank amongst the most nutritious of all vege- 

 tables, as they contain about 20 per cent caseine, 35 per 

 cent of starch and only 14 per cent of water. Lentils are 

 also of the easiest culture, but the seeds are often de- 

 stroyed by a weevil. The seed is generally sown in drills 

 in March. The heaviest crops are produced on rather dry, 

 sandy soils. The plants need no special care between 

 seedtime and harvest. The seeds keep better in the 

 pods than after being threshed out. Some of the varie- 

 ties are the Puy Green, Small Winter and Small March. 

 The genus Lens is placed by Bentham & Hooker be- 

 tween the vetch and sweet pea, (Vicia and Lathyrus). In 

 Lens and Vicia the wings of the flower adhere to the 

 keel, while in Lathyrus they are free or only slightly 

 adherent. Lens has 2 ovules ; Vicia usually many. 



LENTIL. See Lens. 



LEONOTIS (Greek, lion's ear, which the flowers are 

 supposed to resemble). Labiatce. LION'S EAR. LION'S 

 TAIL. This includes a tender shrub, with scarlet- 

 orange, gaping fls., cult, outdoors in S. Fla. and S. 

 Calif. As a bedding plant it is little grown north of 

 Washington, D.C., and it is far outclassed in popularity 

 by the Scarlet Sage, which gives an equally vivid mass 

 of red in the northern autumn. The Lion's Ear differs 

 from the Scarlet Sage in having conspicuously hairy, 

 almost plush-like fls. These are 2 in. long, as many as 

 18 in a whorl, and 3 or 4 whorls open successively on 



each branch. The fls. are oddly gaping, the upper ii 

 very long and uncut, the lower very short and 3-cut. ] 

 the North, cuttings should be started in early sprinj 

 the young plants transplanted to the open in May an 

 thereafter frequently pinched to make a symmetrical ii 

 stead of a straggling bush, and if the plants do n ' 

 flower before frost, they can be cut back, lifted an 

 brought into a cool greenhouse to flower in Novembt 

 or December. A southern enthusiast says that they ai 

 as easy to cultivate as a geranium. 



Franceschi writes that the plant seldom seeds in J 

 California, and must be propagated from cutting; 

 which, if taken from hardened wood, do not root t 

 readily as many other labiates. The plants are muc 

 improved by cutting back every year or so. 



Leonotis has about a dozen species, chiefly south Afr 

 can. Herbs or shrubs: Ivs. dentate, the floral ones alik 

 or narrower and more sessile: fls. scarlet or yellow 

 calyx tubular, 10-nerved, obliquely 8-10-toothed; st* 

 mens 4, didynamous. 



Leonurus, R. Br. Shrubby, 3-6 ft. high: Ivs. 2 h 

 long, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, coarsely serrate, nai 

 rowed at the base, slightly tomentose beneath: flon 

 ones like the rest; corollas more than thrice as long a 

 the calyx. S. Afr. B.M.478(as Phlomis Leonurus 

 R.H. 1857, p. 548. Gn. 53, p. 460. G.C. II. 19:186. 



W. 



LEONTlCE (Greek, lion's foot; referring to the she r 

 of the leaf). Herberiddcece, LION'S LEAF. AboutTspt 

 cies of hardy herbaceous perennials, chiefly Asian, c 

 low growth and distinct appearance. Three kinds ar 

 advertised by the Dutch bulb growers, but perhaps on 

 of them belongs to Bongardia. Leontice is distinguish^ 

 from the highly interesting and rare group mentione 

 under Epimedium by having 6-9 sepals (which are th 

 showy parts), and 6 petals reduced to small nectaries 

 Like Bongardia, it has 6 stamens and a bladdery cap 

 sule. These plants have a turnip-shaped corm abou 

 2 in. thick, and bear yellow fls. in early spring. Bon 

 gardia has only one species, which is described in th 

 supplementary list of the present article. 



A. Lvs. twice ternately cut. 

 Leontopetalum, Linn. Lfts. ovate or obovate, rarel 



subcordate: panicle large, dense, leafy. Italy and th 

 Orient. Root used in the Holyland against epilepsy. 



AA. Lvs. digitately cut. 



B. Raceme dense, conical. 



Albert!, Regel. Stems several, stout, each giving of 

 2 subradical Ivs. which are undeveloped at flowerinj 

 time: Ivs. finally on stalks 4-5 in., long, digitatel; 

 5-parted; Ifts. pale green, glaucous, elliptic; nerve 

 prominent and parallel beneath: scape 6-8 in. high, ro 

 bust: raceme as many as 18-fld. : fls. nearly 1 in. across 

 ochre-yellow, streaked reddish brown on back; petal; 

 shorter than the stamens. Turkestan. B. M. 6900 

 Gt. 1881:1057. 



BB. Raceme loose, oblong. 



Altaica, PalL According to Index Kewensis, this is i 

 synonym of ftongardia Rauwolfii, but the following 

 description, taken from the plant figured as L. Altaica 

 in B. M. 3245, is very distinct from that figured as Bon 

 gardia Rauwolfii in B. M. 6244. Lvs. not from the root 

 digitately cut, only one leaf on each flower-stem, th< 

 leaf having 3 primary divisions, each of which is peti 

 oled and has 5 Ifts., 2 of which are smaller than th< 

 rest ; Ifts. elliptical : inflorescence a raceme, bearing 

 large, more or less roundish leafy bracts: fls. mostl] 

 erect, having 6 showy, oblong, not overlapping, entirt 

 parts supposed to be sepals, the petals small, yellow 

 erect, shorter than the anthers. 



Bongardia Ratiwolfii, C. A. Mey. Lvs. all from the root 

 pinnate; Ifts. 3-8 pairs, or some of the Ifts. in whorls of 3-4 

 wedge-shaped, 3-fid, with a conspicuous triangular crimsor 

 mark at the base of each : inflorescence a panicle, bearing mi 

 nute, linear bracts: fls. drooping, having 6 showy, wedge 

 shaped, crenate parts, 3 of which should possibly be considered 

 petals, and the other 3 inner sepals, since there are 3 small, 

 greenish lobes outside which are like an ordinary calyx, and 

 should, perhaps, be called the outer calyx. B.M. 6244. F.C. 3 :98. 

 B.l:50. 



