L Y S 



L Y S 



veined underneath. Flowers axillary, yellow, each on a 

 lonrr, (lender, naked ilalk. Linnaeus in his Syjlema Frgeta- 

 bilium reckons L. ciliata as a variety only of his quadrifolia , 

 and in this he is followed by ^\'ilIdeno^v, but on the autho- 

 rity of the Sptc'ics Planlanim and Hortus Kewenjh, we are 

 inclined to conhder them a^; dillinft. 



L. Litittm-JIeil/i/iim. Small Loofefi rife. Linn. Sp. PI. 211. 

 (Linum minimum ikllatum ; Magnol. Bot. Monfp. t. 162.) 

 — Calyx longer than the corolla. Stem ereft, very much 

 branclied. — Not uncommon in France and Italy, where it 

 flowers in the fpring. Jieot annual, capillary, whitilh. Stem 

 about two or three inches high, very flender, much branched. 

 Leahies feffde lanceolate, pointed, entire. Floivers fmall, 

 of a pale green colour. 



Mr. R. Brown, Prod. Nov. HoU. v. i. 428, fuggcfts that 

 this genus ought certainly to be divided. He deicribes one 

 fpecies as found near Port Jackfon, !.■. maculala, downy, 

 with ovate leaves, and axillary flowers, whofe ftalks are 

 fliorter than the fooiftalks. There is no abfolute certainty 

 of this being diftinft from L. japonica of Thunberg. 



Lysimachia, in GiirJen'mg, comprehends plants of the 

 hardy, herbaceous, biennial, and perennial forts, of which the 

 fpecies molliv cultivated are, the willow-leaved loofellrife 

 (I.,, ephemeram) ; the purple flowered loofellrife (L. du- 

 bia) ; and the upright loofefl;rife (L. ilrifta. ) 



Method of Ciihuir. — All thefe plants may be readily in- 

 creafed, either by fowing the feeds in the autumnal feafon, 

 as fooji as they become fully ripe, on a moid border which 

 has an caftern afpett ; or by parting the roots, and planting 

 them out at the fame feafon in fimllar fituations. The plants 

 fhouid afterwards be kept perfettly clean, and where tlie 

 firll mode is ufed, removed into the places where they are 

 to remain during the autumn. 



But in the fecond kind the feeds fliould be fown upon a 

 hot-bed. 



The third fort is beft increafed by planting the bulbs 

 thrown out from the axils of the leaves. 



Each of thefe different plants may be employed by way 

 of ornament and variety in the clumps, borders, and other 

 parts of gardens and pleafure grounds. 



Ly.simachia, in ylncient Geography, a town of Thrace, 

 called in the time of Ptulemy Xuwllium. 



Lysimachia Worm, in NaUiral HiJIory, a name given to 

 an infect found very frequently feeding on the leaves of the 

 /v/imac^/a, or willow-herb. It has nlualiy been efteemed a 

 caterpillar, but is properly ene of the fauffe chenilles, having 

 a rounded head, and twenty-two legs ; this creatni-e changes 

 its fl<in feveral times, and finally changes its colour with it ; 

 it is at firil of a bluelfn-grey, but on its laft change in the 

 worm-ftate it becomes of a yellowifli-green ; when it has 

 lived a week, or tiiercabout, after this laft change, it becomes 

 a chiyfalis, from wliich there afterwards comes out a four- 

 winged fly. 



LYSIMACHIiE, in Botany, an elegant Natural Order 

 of plants, named from the LvfimncJAa, which is one of 

 them ; fee that article. Tliis order is the firll in .lullieu's 

 eighth clafs. See LABr.\T;E and Gi;stian'a:. 



Tiie Lyfitnachiiz are thus defined. 



Calyx divided. Corolla generally regular, its limb di- 

 vided, moftly into five lobes. Stjmens define, mollly five, 

 rarely either more or fewer, being equal in number to, and 

 placed againft, the fegments of the corolla. Style fohtary ; 

 llyle fimple, or rarely cloven. Fruit of one cell with many 

 feeds, often capUilar, the receptacle of the feeds central, 

 .tmconnefted with the valves. Stem herbaceous. Leaves 

 either oppofite or alternate. 



Seftion i, confillin^ of plants whofe flowers are Lome on 



a leafy ftefn, contains Centunculus, yiimgaUis, Lyjimachia, 

 Uottoma, Coris, Shrjfieldia, LimoJ'ella, Trienlulis, and ^Inl'ia. 



Section 2, comprehends plants whofe flowcr-ftalks fpring 

 direflly from the root, as well as the leaves, and are gene- 

 rally umbellate, with a many-leaved involucrum ; fometimes 

 however they are fimple and fingle-flowered. The genera 

 are yjndrojace. Primula, Cortufa, Soldanella, Dodecatheon, 

 and Cydamem 



.Juffieu fubjoins a 3d Seftion, of plants akin to the Lyfi- 

 machia. Thefe are Globularia, furely mifplaced here ; Co- 

 nobea of Aublct ; Toz.z.iai which two la!l we fhould rather 

 have referred to the order of Prdicu'ares ; Samohts, Utri- 

 cularia, Pinguicula, and Menyanfhes. 



M. Ventenat has chofen to call this order Primidacc-c, and 

 he is followed by Mr. Brown. The latter name is perhaps 

 preferable, and there feems to be nothing fixed as yet 

 aiflongll the ftudents of natural orders, as to names or their 

 terminations. The fcience is new and experimental at prc- 

 fent, and rigid laws (liould not prevent improvements. It 

 is far otherwil'e with names of genera and fpecies, which are 

 the current coin, not the paper currency, of the botanical 

 realm. 



LYSIMACHUS, in Biography, king of Thrace, one 

 of the captains of Alexander the Great, rofe from a very 

 mean condition to the favour of that prince. At the parti- 

 tion of the empire of Alexander, in the year 323 B.C., 

 Thrace, the Ciierfonefe, and the countries adjacent to the 

 Euxine, were allotted to Lyfin.achus. When Antigonus 

 had rendered himfelf formidable to all the other (liarers, 

 Lyfimachus joined in the league againll him, with Seleucus, 

 Ptolemy, and Callander. By a lubfcquent treaty, Thrace 

 was confirmed to liim ; and m imitation of other captains, 

 he took the title of king. He founded the city of Lyfi- 

 machia in 309 B.C., and made it his capital. In co:ijunc- 

 tion with Seleucus, he gained the great battle of Ipfuj. He 

 afterwards feized upon ^lacedonia, having firll expelled 

 Pyrrhus from the throne ; but his cruelty rendered him truly 

 odious, and the murder of his fon Agythocles fo offended 

 his fiibjefts, that the moll opulent and powerful revolted 

 from him, and abandoned the kingdom. He purfued them 

 into Alia, and declared war againll Seleucus, who had given 

 them a kind reception. He was killed in a bloody battle, 

 in the 28 ill year B.C., and in the Soth of his age. His 

 body was found in the heaps of flain by, the fidelity of his 

 dog, which had carefuily watched near it. With great 

 courage and abilities, he was characterized by a cruel and 

 ferocious difpofition, which rendered him unworthy of his 

 high fortune. Juftin mentions a curious fatt concerning 

 him, w's, that having offended Alexander, he was, as a 

 punifliment, thrown into the den of a furious lion ; and 

 when the ravenous animal darted upon him, he wrapped his- 

 hand in his mantle, and boldly tliruft it into the lion's 

 month, and by twilling his tongue, killed an adverfary 

 ready to devour him. This aft T)t cMurage in felf-defence 

 recommended him to the monarch, who pardoned and took 

 him into his favour. Univer. Hill. 



LYSINE, in ylncient Geography, a tov.-n of Afia, in 

 P.imphyha, between Comana and Cormafa, according to 

 Ptolemy. 



LYSINEMA, in Botany, from X\j3-i:, a feparation, and 

 nfj-y., a thread or Jlamen, becauie the llamens are uncon- 

 nedled with tlie corolla, proceeding from the receptacle, be- 

 low the germcn, by which character alone the genus is dif- 

 tinguiflied from Eparris, their habit being esatlly the fame. 

 The tube of the ci rolla however is generally divided, more 

 - or Icfs deeply, into five parts in Lyjiuema. Brown Prodr. 



No\, 



