LEONTOPODIUM 



LEPACHYS 



901 



LEONTOPODIUM (Greek, lion's foot). Compdsitce. 

 'he Edelweiss is perhaps the one flower most sought by 

 mrists in the Alps. It is an emblem of purity, and the 

 lame means "noble white." It is a low plant, 4-12 in. 

 igh densely covered with a whitish wool, the attractive 





1261. Edelweiss Leontopodium alpinum (X %). 



portion being the flat, star-like cluster of woolly floral 

 leaves surrounding the true fls., which are small, incon- 

 spicuous and yellow. The general impression seems to 

 'be that Edelweiss cannot be cult, in America. In 1900, 

 however, it is being extensively advertised as a pot- 

 plant, and it has long been cult, in rock gardens. J. B. 

 Keller writes, "It can be grown to perfection in elevated 

 position of the rockery, in rather light soil and with 

 full exposure to sun. It also succeeds in an ordinary 

 hardy border where the plants can be kept moderately 

 dry in winter." Dreer advises that the seed be sown 

 early in spring in shallow pans of sandy soil, and leaf- 

 mold and kept cool and moist. E. J. Canning sows seeds 

 of Edelweiss in 4-in. pots in the greenhouse in Feb., 

 pricking off as soon as large enough to handle, and 

 finally transferring them to the rock garden, where they 

 flower well the second year; but after that they are in- 

 clined to die out. 



To establish a colony of Edelweiss an English writer 

 (Gn. 52, p. 146) advises that a few stray seedlings be 

 firmly planted in a narrow chink of rock so placed that a 

 deep fissure of gritty or sandy loam may be assured for the 

 roots to ramble in. Plants in pots may be grown and 

 flowered when the collar is tightly wedged between some 

 pieces of stone or old mortar. The plant is best propa- 

 gated by seeds, as division is not always successful. 



Leontopodium has about 6 widely scattered species of 

 perennial herbs, all tufted and woolly, with ascending or 

 erect stems which are unbr anched except at the very top : 

 stem-lvs. alternate, entire: heads small, crowded into 

 dense cymes surrounded by a sort of leafy involucre. 

 Edelweiss is still catalogued as a Gnaphalium, but in 

 that genus the style is 2-cut, while in Leontopodium it 

 is uncut. Leontopodium is more nearly allied to our 

 common weed, the "Pearly Everlasting" (Anaphalis 

 margaritacea), which lacks the dense cluster of star- 

 like floral leaves, but in the opinion of the writer has as 

 much beauty as the Edelweiss. 



alpinum, Cass. (Gnaphalium Leontopddium, Linn.). 

 Fig. 1261. Lvs. lanceolate, floral ones oblong: fl. -heads 

 7-9 in a cluster: involucral scales woolly at base, black- 

 ish at apex. B.M. 1958. Gn. 29, p. 529 and 52, p. 146. 



LEOPARD'S BANE. Doronicum. 

 LEOPARD FLOWER is Belemcanda. 



LEPACHYS (Greek, a thick scale; probably referring 

 to the thickened upper part of the bracts of the recep- 

 tacle). Comptisitce. This includes a fine prairie wild- 

 flower, L. columnaris, for which, unfortunately, there 

 is no common name. It grows 2-3 ft. high, has ele- 

 gantly cut foliage, and bears fls. something like a 

 Brown-eyed Susan, but the disk is finally cylindrical 

 and more than an inch high, with 6 or 7 oval, reflexed 

 rays hanging from the base. In a fine specimen these 

 rays are 1% in. long and nearly 1 in. broad. There are 



5 inches or more of naked wiry stem between foliage 

 and flower. Typically, the rays are yellow, but per- 

 haps the most attractive form is var. pulcherrima, 

 which has a large brown or brown-purple area toward 

 the base of each ray. Like the majority of our native 

 western fls. that are cult, in the eastern states, the 

 plants have reached our gardens from European culti- 

 vators. Meehan says it is perfectly hardy in our north- 

 ern borders, but the English do not regard it as entirely 

 safe without some winter protection. Moreover, it is 

 one of the easiest herbaceous perennials to raise from 

 seed, flowering the first year, and it is chiefly treated in 

 the Old World as an annual bedding plant, the seeds 

 being known to the trade as Obeliscaria pulcherrima. 

 For bedding, the seeds are sown in early spring in a 

 hotbed, the seedlings pricked off into boxes, hardened 

 off, and finally transplanted to the open, only slight 

 care being necessary to obtain compact bushes about 

 2 ft. high. Under such circumstances the plants flower 

 from June to September, and the season may be pro- 

 longed by a sowing in the open. This plant deserves 

 trial in our northern borders, where seed can probably 

 be thinly sown in the open, where the plants are to 

 stand, with a fair chance of autumnal bloom the same 

 year. The fls. last well in water and should be cut with 

 long stems to get the benefit of the delicately-cut foliage. 

 Lepachys contains 4 species of herbs, all American, 3 

 perennial. Lvs. alternate, pinnately divided or parted: 

 disks at first grayish, their corollas yellowish, becoming 

 tawny: chaffy bracts commonly marked with an inter- 

 marginal purple line or spot, containing volatile oil or 

 resin. Monographed in Gray's "Synoptical Flora." For 

 generic distinctions, see Budbeckia. 



A. Rays oval, scarcely as long as the disk at its 



longest. 



columnaris, Torr. & Gray. Fig. 1262. Branching 

 from the base, 1-2 ft. high in the wild, often 3 ft. in 

 cult. : stem-lvs. with 5-9 divisions, which are oblong to 



1062. Lepachys columnaris (X 1-5). 



linear in outline and sometimes 2-3-cleft: fls. solitary, 

 terminating the branches; rays yellow; style^tips short, 

 obtuse. Prairies. B.M. 1601. Mn.l:65. G.W.F.A.8. 



Var pulchrrima, Torr. & Gray (Obeliscaria pul- 

 cherrima, DC.), differs only in having the rays par^Jy 



