Labiate—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 x«#deos, a sheath, the 
filaments being united at the base. 
C. Bliimet, 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. Gibsont. The foliage of these 
is variegated with crimson, purple, and green, and by inter- 
crossing these with C. Blimet 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. £. véra. 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. ZL. Spica 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. lwndtu belongs to the same group, but the leaves are 
broader, and clothed on both sides with a thick velvety white 
tomentum. L. Stachas 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. 
