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LAXMANNIA. A genus of Australian 

 herbs, belonging to the Liliacece. They have 

 the habit of Polycarpa?a, with filiform pro- 

 cumbent stems, setaceous-acerose leaves, 

 the radical ones crowded, and small purple 

 or white flowers, arranged in sessile axil- 

 lary or shortly-stalked terminal heads, the 

 perianth being membranaceous, six-parted, 

 and persistent. [J. T. S.] 



LAX, LAXUS. Said of parts which are 

 distant from each other, with an open ar- 

 rangement, such as the panicle among the 

 kinds of inflorescence. 



LAYTA. A genus of Composites, of the 

 tribe HeManthece, including Madaroglossa 

 of De Candolle. It is near to Madia, differ- 

 ing chiefly in the achenes not being late- 

 rally compressed, and all, at least those of 

 the disk, being crowned by a pappus of ten 

 to twenty bristles, which are plumose or 

 villous, with long hairs at the base. It con- 

 sists of seven or eight annual or biennial 

 herbs, natives of California or Oregon, 

 usually pubescent or hirsute and often 

 glandular, with alternate leaves, the lower 

 ones often cut or lobed, and flower-heads 

 more showy than in Madia, with white or 

 yellow rays. The name of Lai/ia has also 

 been given to a Chinese leguminous tree, 

 which has since been united with Ormosia. 



LEAD-COLOURED. Slate-coloured, with 

 a slight metallic lustre. 



LEAD PLANT. An American name for 



Amorpha canescens. 



LEADWORT. Plumbago. 



LEADWORTS. Lindley's name for the 

 Plumbaginacece. 



LEAP. An expansion of the bark, placed 

 symmetrically with regard to other leaves, 

 and performing the offices of respiration 

 and digestion when in its perfect condi- 

 tion. In an incomplete or modified state, 

 it constitutes all the forms of the appen- 

 dages of the axis. It is simple when not 

 cut into separate parts, andcompoimd when 

 divided into other distinct parts. 



LEAF-BUDS. Buds from which leaves 

 only are produced ; they are called normal 

 when produced at the axils, adventitious 

 when they occur in places not axillary, and 

 latent v/hen they are undiscoverabie by the 

 naked eye. 



LEAFLET. One of the divisions of a 

 compound leaf. 



LEAF-LIKE. The same as Foliaceous. 



LEAF-STALK. The (unexpandedi base 

 of a leaf, connecting it with the stem. 



LEAF-CUP. Polymnia Uvedalia. 



LEAF, "WALKING. Camptosorus rhizo- 

 phyllus. 



LEATHER-FLOWER. Clematis Viorna ; 

 also Byrsanthes. 



LEATHER-WOOD. JDirea. 



LEATHERY. ■ The same as Coriaceous. 



LEAVENWORTHIA. A genus of Cru- 

 cifera? from North America, formerly in- 

 cluded in Cardamine, from which it differs 

 by having the seed wing-margined and 

 the embryo nearly straight, or with the 

 radicle only slightly bent towards the edge 

 of the cotyledons. The flowers also are 

 yellow, which is never the case in Cardamine 

 and Bentaria. [J. T. S.] 



LEBECKI A. A South African genus be- 

 longing to the papilionaceous suborder of 

 Leguminosce. The species are shrubs with 

 ternate leaves, or occasionally with one 

 leaflet or with none, the leaf-stalk being 

 then leafy and supplying the place of the 

 true leaf. The flowers have a five-toothed 

 calyx ; an ovate standard bent downwards, 

 and a rather sharp keel ; tenmonadelphous 

 stamens; and a cylindrical many-seeded 

 pod. [M. T. M.] 



LEBO. The leaves of the Bread-fruit tree 

 used in the Pacific Islands sewed together 

 to cover food in cooking, in order to keep 

 in the steam. 



LBCANIODISCUS. A name given by 

 Planchon to a sapindaceous tree or shrub 

 from tropical Africa, which appears, Bow- 

 ever, scarcely to differ generically from 

 some species of the large genus Cupania. 



LECANOPTERIS. A name proposed by 

 Blume for a Javanese polypodiaceous fern, 

 remarkable chiefly for its coriaceous pin- 

 natifid fronds, with roundish ovate seg- 

 ments, having the sori immersed in the 

 concave or cupuliform marginal teeth, 

 which are turned back on the surface of 

 the frond. It belongs to the series with 

 the venation anastomosing, and has free 

 included veinlets within the areoles. Sir 

 W. Hooker and Mr. J. Smith both regard 

 it as an abnormal form of Pleopeltis loma- 

 rioides. [T. M.] 



LECANORA. A genus of crustaceous li- 

 chens belonging to the order Parmeliacece, 

 resembling frequently Lecidea in appear- 

 ance, but always distinguished by the bor- 

 der being formed from the th alius. L. tar- 

 tarea affords the Cudbear of commerce; 

 but the most remarkable species in the 

 genus are L. esculenta and afflnis, which 

 are found in Armenia and Algeria, blown 

 about and heaped up by the winds, and are 

 ground up with eoim in times of scarcity to 

 eke out the scanty supply. They are, how- 

 ever, a bad substitute, as they contain 66 

 per cent, of oxalate of lime. These species 

 are either slightly lobed like the brain, 

 or composed of close-packed branches. 

 Their early stage of growth has not been 

 observed, but it is probable that they are 

 attached when young, and become free by 

 a sort of hypertrophy, which nourishes 

 the plant everywhere except at the very 

 base— at least an analogous form of Par- 

 melia saxatilis has been described. The 

 natives consider these lichens to be the 

 Manna of the Israelites, and believe that 

 they fall from heaven, as they see them 

 occasionally borne by tempests from dis- 

 tant tracts. [M J. B.J 



