LECHEA. A genus of Cistacece, differ- 

 inefrotn Helianthemum in the petals being 

 reduced to three small ones or entirely de- 

 ficient, in the fringed stigmas, the ovules 

 two only to each placenta, and in the seeds 

 having a straight embryo. There are four or 

 five species, natives of North America, all 

 low slender much-branched herbs or under- 

 shrubs, with numerous small flowers of no 

 beauty. 



LECHEGTTANA HONEY. A dangerous 

 kind of honey, supposed to be furnished by 

 Paullinia australis and Serjania lethalis. 



LECHEXAELTIA. Leschenaultia. 



LECIDEA. The typical genus of Lecidi- 

 nei, consisting of crustaceous lichens, for 

 the most part adhering closely to rocks or 

 trunks of trees. The weather-stains on 

 stones and the grey patches on trees be- 

 long principally to this genus, which is dif- 

 fused over the whole face of the globe. 

 The fruit-bearing shields have the border 

 coloured like the disk, which is always 

 well-defined in the young plant, though 

 sometimes obliterated in age. [M. J. B.J 



LECIDINEI. A natural order of lichens 

 in which the open orbicular disk of the 

 fruit is contained in a distinct proper recep- 

 tacle. The disk sometimes in age oblite- 

 rates the margin and becomes convex. The 

 frond frequently consists of a mere crust 

 adhering closely to the substance on which 

 it grows, and scarcely separable from it. 

 It becomes, however, by gentle degrees, 

 foliaceous ; and finally erect often branched 

 bodies, as in the reindeer moss (Cenomi/ce) 

 and cup moss, arise from the crust and bear 

 the fruit. The order, in fact, contains some 

 of the most obscure and some of the most 

 beautiful of lichens. Lecidea murorum is one 

 of the most common examples of the crusta- 

 ceous group, and is conspicuous from its 

 golden hue, which is, however, far sur- 

 passed by that of L. elegans, which flour- 

 ishes in extreme iatitudes. pi. J. B.] 



LECTTHIDACE.E. (Leajths.) A natural 

 order of dicotyledonous plants, belonging 

 to Lindley's myrtal alliance of epigynous 

 Exogens. Large trees, with stipulate 

 leaves and showy flowers, allied to Myrta- 

 cerp, but distinguished by the large almond- 

 like seeds, the alternate dotless leaves, and 

 by the stamens being in part collected into 

 a hooded plate. The fruit is a woody cap- 

 sule, often opening by a lid. They are 

 natives of the warm regions of South Ame- 

 rica. The seed-vessels are used as cups and 

 bowls. The seeds of Bertholletia excelsa are 

 the Brazil or Castanha nuts of the shops. 

 There are about forty species distributed 

 among seven genera. [J. H. B.] 



LECTTHIS. A genus of Lecythidacece, 

 almost exclusively confined to Venezuela, 

 Guiana, and Brazil, where most of the thirty 

 or forty known species attain a large size, 

 their gigantic, trunks towering to a height 

 of eighty or more feet, and expanding into 

 large heads of glossy foliage. The flowers 

 have a six-lobed calyx, and six nearly equal 

 petals, the centre being hid by the curious 



hood-shaped body to which the sterile sta- 

 mens are attached, and which serves to pro- 

 tect the fertile stamens seated beneath it. 

 In most species the fruit is very hard and 

 woody, and often of a large size ; it is fur- 

 nished with a lid at the top, which, when 

 the fruit is quite ripe, falls away, and thus 

 permits the escape of the seeds. 



Under the name of Sapucaia nuts, the 

 seeds of L. Zabucajo are commonly sold in 

 our fruit shops, and they will probably 

 take the place of the closely-allied Brazil 

 nuts, to which they are greatly superior in 

 point of flavour and much easier of diges- 

 tion. They are rather more than two inches 

 long and one wide, covered with a longitu- 

 dinally-furrowed corky shell, and grow in 

 large hard woody fruits, shaped like urns, 

 measuring about six inches in diameter, 

 and having close-fitting lids at the top. 

 Our supply comes from Para, and is princi- 

 pally the produce of the Brazilian forests. 



L. Ollaria is another species producing 

 large fruits, commonly known as Monkey 

 Pots, but its seeds are not so palatable as 

 those of the last, leaving a bitter flavour in 



Lecythis Ollaria. 



the mouth. Its bark is composed of a great 

 number (upwards of a hundred have been 

 counted) of layers, not thicker than writing 

 paper, which the Indians separate by beat- 

 ing, and employ, under the name of Tauare, 

 for the wrappers of cigarettes. [A. S.] 



LEDEBOGRIA. A genus of bulbous 

 plants from India, referred to Liliacece 

 by some authors, and to Melanthacece by 

 others. They have broadly-lanceolate root- 

 leaves, spotted like those of Orchis macii- 

 lata, and scapes terminating in a raceme of 

 bluish flowers,with a six-leaved bell-shaped 

 deciduous perianth ; six stamens with in- 

 trorse anthers.. The cells of the capsule 

 are one-seeded.' [J. T. S.] 



LEDGERIA. Cyrtosia. 



LEDOCARPTJM. A genus of 'small Chi- 

 lian shrubs belonging to Oxalidacece. They 

 have alternate,rarely opposite, three-parted 

 leaves, with linear revolute segments, and 

 rather large yellow terminal solitary flow- 

 ers on long peduncles. The flowers have 

 five sepals, with as many linear bracts on 



