900 



LEMON 



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 

 2ii 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 

 exhalations. e. J. Wickson. 



LEMON VEEBENA is Lippia. 



LEMON VINE is Pereskia. 



LEMONIA. See liavenia. 



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

 nbsm. 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-lK 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 26 per cent caseine, 35 per 

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

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

 stroyed byaweevil. 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. 



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

 supposed to i-esemble). Labidt(s. 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 



LEONTICE 



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

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

 the North, cuttings should be started in early spring, 

 the young plants transplanted to the open in May and 

 thereafter frequently pinched to make asymmetrical in- 

 stead of a straggling bush, and if the plants do not 

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

 brought into a cool greenhouse to flower in November 

 or December. A southern enthusiast says that they are 

 as easy to cultivate as a geranium. 

 Franceschi writes that the plant seldom seeds in S- 



readily as many other labiates. The plants are much 

 improved by cutting back every year or so. 



Leonotis has about a dozen species, chiefly south Afri- 

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

 or narrower and more sessile: fls. scarlet or yellow; 

 calyx tubular, 10-nerved, obliquely 8-10-toothed ; sta- 

 mens 4, didynamous. 



Leoniinis, R. Br. Shrubby, 3-C ft. high : Ivs. 2 in 

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

 rowed at the base, slightly tomentose beneath: floral 

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

 the calyx. S. Afr. B.M.478(as Phlomis Leonunts). 

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



W. M. 



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

 of the leaf). BerberidAcew. Lion's Leaf. About 7spe- 

 cies of hardy herbaceous perennials, chiefly Asian, of 

 low growth and distinct appearance. Three kinds are 

 advertised by the Dutch bulb growers, but perhaps one 

 of them belongs to Bongardia. Leontice is distinguished 

 from the highly interesting and rare group mentioned 

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

 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 about 

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

 gardia has only one species, which is described in the 

 supplementary list of the present article. 

 A. Lvs. twice ternatelij cut. 



Leontop^talum, Linn. Lfts. ovate or obovate, rarely 

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

 Orient. — Root used in the Holyland against epilepsy. 



AA. Lvs.digitately cut. 

 B. Haceme dense, conical. 



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

 2 subradical lvs. which are undeveloped at flowering 

 time: lvs. finally on stalks 4-5 in. long, digitately 

 5-parted; lfts. pale green, glaucous, elliptic; nerves 

 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; petals 

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

 Gt. 1881:1057. 



BB. Baceme loose, oblong. 



Alt^ica, Pall, According to Index Kewensis, this is a 

 synonym of Songardia Ramiolfii, 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 Mauwolfii in B.M. 6244. Lvs. not from the root, 

 digitately cut, only one leaf on each fiower-stem, the 

 leaf having 3 primary divisions, each of which is peti- 

 oled and has 5 lfts., 2 of which are smaller than the 

 rest ; lfts. elliptical : inflorescence a raceme, bearing 

 large, more or less roundish leafy bracts: fls. mostly 

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

 parts supposed to be sepals, the petals small, yellow, 

 erect, shorter than the anthers. 



Bongardia RatmoUii, ('. A. Mey, Lvs. all from the root, 

 pinnate; lfts. 3-8 piiir- "i mi "I il- lfts. in wborls of 3-4, 

 wedge-shaped, 3-13il, v ' , • ; ,u< triansul.ir crimson 

 mark at the base of I I ',i - >■ ;l panicle, bearing mi- 

 nute, linear bracts: |i ; h i\iiig 6 showy, wedge- 

 shaped, crenate parts, :: ■■( wl: 1; -I, :il.l iinssibly be considered 

 petals, and the other ;( inner sep.ils. since there are 3 small, 

 greenish lobes outside which are like an ordinary calyx, and 

 should, perhaps, becalled the oatercalyx. B.M.6244. r.C.3:98. 

 B.l:50. W. M. 



