L abiatcs Coleus. 361 



slender tube and bilabiate limb, upper lip 3- or 4-lobed, 

 lower lip entire, frequently concave, and enclosing the stamens. 

 The species are natives of tropical Asia and Africa, and con- 

 sequently tender, and only suitable for sheltered warm gardens 

 in Summer. The name is derived from KCO\SO?, a sheath, the 

 filaments being united at the base. 



G. Blumei, from Java, appears to have been the first intro- 

 duced of the set with ornamental foliage. It is an erect 

 rather succulent herbaceous plant with large ovate-acuminate 

 toothed leaves of a pale green marbled or spotted with purple- 

 brown, and small blue and white flowers. Somewhat recently two 

 other species or forms have been introduced from the Pacific 

 Islands, namely, C. Veitchii and C. Gibsoni. The foliage of these 

 is variegated with crimson, purple, and green, and by inter- 

 crossing these with C. Blumei in various ways, many very 

 magnificent varieties have been obtained. In some the colours 

 are of dazzling brightness, and beautifully contrasted. Some 

 of the first were raised in the gardens of the Horticultural 

 Society at Chiswick ; and now every year produces its quota of 

 new ones. 



2. LAVANDULA. 



Dwarf compact branching shrubs. Leaves opposite, entire 

 or toothed. Flowers small, on long-stalked spikes. Calyx 

 ovate, ribbed, unequally toothed. Corolla with a 2-lobed upper, 

 and 3-lobed lower lip. Stamens and style concealed in the 

 corolla. A small genus of plants from the Mediterranean 

 region. The name is derived from lavare, to wash, in allusion 

 to the use of the plant by the ancients to perfume their baths. 



1 . L. vera. Common Lavender. A variable undershrub 

 with narrow lanceolate entire hoary or nearly glabrous leaves and 

 terminal verticillate spikes of small blue flowers on a very long 

 peduncle. L. Splca closely resembles L. vera, and is perhaps 

 a form of the same species. It differs, according to Decandolle, 

 in its dwarfer habit, whiter tomentum, leaves crowded towards 

 the base of the branches, and shorter denser flower-spikes. 



L. lanata belongs to the same group, but the leaves are 

 broader, and clothed on both sides with a thick velvety white 

 tomentum. L. Stsochas and L. dentata are handsome species 

 belonging to a group distinguished by the dense spikes being 

 surmounted with a crown of coloured foliaceous bracts. The 

 former has narrow entire, and the latter finely-toothed leaves. 



