DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 307 



wild in some parts of India. It is also cultivated in many countries. It has been a 

 favorite garden plant in the East from the time of the ancient Egyptians to the 

 present day. The Egyptians used the flowers for perfuming the oils and ointments 

 with which they anointed the body and for embalming the bodies of their dead. 

 The Jews also derived a perfume from the flowers, which they employed in their 

 baths, and in religious ceremonies, and they sprinkled the flowers on the garments 

 of the newly married. 



From the most ancient times the leaves have been used in the East for staining 

 the fingers, nails, hands, and feet, and for dyeing the hair. Egyptian mummies have 

 been found with their nails stained by it. In India its use is still universal among 

 Mohammedan women and has spread among the Hindoos. In southern China, where 

 it is common, it is also used for the same purpose. To dye the nails, the freshly 

 gathered leaves and young twigs are pounded with lime or catechu, mixed with hot 

 water, and applied to the fingers over night. For dyeing the hair a paste of the 

 powdered leaves is applied to it and it is bound up with leaves, wax cloth, or oilskin. 

 After a half hour or more the preparation is washed off and the hair is found to be 

 of a bright red color. A second application is then made of the powder of the indigo 

 plant made into a paste with water and allowed to remain three hours. This turns 

 the hair a jet black. Ointments are used to make it glossy. The process must be 

 repeated frequently, as with other dyes, on account of the growth of the hair. By 

 certain classes of Mohammedans the process is stopped at the first stage, leaving the 

 hair and beard red; and in Persia, Arabia, and northern India the manes and tails 

 of horses are sometimes colored red by the same process. 

 REFERENCES: 



Lawsonia inermis L. Sp. PI. 1: 349. 1753. 

 Layal (Philippines). See Zinziber zingiber. 

 Lead tree (West Indies) . See Leucaena glauca. 

 Lechuga (Spanish). See Lacluca sativa. 

 Lecideaceae. See under Lichenes. 

 Lecythidaceae. BRAZIL-NUT FAMILY. 



This family is represented in Guam by Barringtonia spetiosa, and B. racemosa. 

 Leguminosae. See Mimosaceae, Fabaceae, and Caesalpiniaceae. 

 Lemae, Lemay, or Lemai (Guam). 



Names of the sterile breadfruit (Artocarpus communis); modified to "rima." 

 Lemon. See Citrus medico, limon. 

 Lemon-grass. See Andropogon nardus. 

 Lemoncito. See Triphasia trifoliala. 

 Lengnga (Philippines). See Sesamum orientate. 

 Lengua de Vaca (Guam) . 



Local name for a species of introduced prickly-pear ( Opuntia sp.). 

 Lens phaseoloides. SNUFF-BOX SEA-BEAN. PLATE LVI. 

 Family Fabaceae. 



LOCAL NAMES. Gaye, Gadye, Gayi, Lodusong, Bayog (Guam); Gogo, Gogong 

 bakai, Bayogo, Balones (Philippines); Cacoon (West Indies); Boja (Cuba); 

 Tupe (Samoa); Kaka (Rarotonga); Match-box bean (Queensland). 



A giant climber with snake-like branches, bipinnate leaves, minute flowers grow- 

 ing in long slender spikes, and an enormous flattened woody, jointed pod like a 

 sword-scabbard, the margins of which consist of a strong woody suture, which persists 



Drury, Useful Plants of India, p. 285; Smith, Diet. Economic Plants, p. 81; Watt, 

 Economic Products of India, vol. 4, pp. 559, 601; Treasury of Botany, vol. 2, p. 665. 



