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670 



LENTILLON. (Fr.) Ervum Lens minor. 



LENTINUS. A large genus of gill-bear- 

 ing Fungi, distinguished principally from 

 Agaricus by their tough substance, and 

 from Pamis by their thin toothed gills. Two 

 or three species are found in this country, 

 and a few more in Europe and North Ame- 

 rica, the maximum being attained in hot 

 countries, where tbey are the ornaments 

 of the woods from their beautiful forms, 

 elegant sculpture, and various clothing. 

 The tough substance renders them unflt 

 for food, but easy of preservation, so that 

 more is known of them than of most tropi- 

 cal Agaricini, as they are 'brought home by 

 every collector, when the more watery and 

 fleshy species are neglected. [M. J. B.] 



LENTISCUS. Pistacia Lentiscns. 



LENTISQUE. (Fr.) Pistacia Lentiscns. 



LENZITES. A genus of gill-bearing 

 Fungi, distinguished from Agaricus by its 

 tough corky substance and gills. Tt leads 

 in fact directly through Bcedalea to the 

 pore-bearing Fungi, the gills in certain 

 states being so connected with transverse 

 processes as almost to constitute pores. 

 L. betulinais our commonest species, and is 

 often very beautiful from the purity of its 

 hymenium, and the zoned velvety pileus. 

 It occurs on stumps of various trees, and 

 on wrought wood. L. scoparia is often 

 very rich in colouring, showing various 

 tints of brown and reddish-yellow. It is 

 sometimes abundant on imported deals, 

 but is scarcely indigenous. [M. J. B.] 



LEOCHILUS. A genus of South Ameri- 

 can epiphytes of the orchid family, allied 

 to Oncidium, from which it is distinguished 

 by the arms of the column being placed 

 below the stigma, and by the presence 

 of a honey-pore at the base of the lip. 

 The species, which are not numerous, are 

 pseudo-bulbous, and produce small, often 

 yellowish flowers in racemes. [T. M.] 



LEONIA. This genus, referred by Mr. 

 Bentham to the Violacece, consists of two 

 species, one found in Peru, the other in 

 Brazil. They form moderately high trees, 

 and have alternate entire leaves, full of 

 pellucid dots, with small deciduous sti- 

 pules at their base. The flowers are small, 

 j full of dots, with a five-parted calyx of 

 I round fringed lobes ; five petals' slightly 

 | cohering, but ultimately free ; and four 

 stamens, with their filaments united into a 

 short tube. L. glycycarpa produces edible 

 fruit, greatly relished by the Peruvians, 

 who call the tree Achocon. It is of a round- 

 ish form, about the size of a peach, with a 

 rough yellow rind, marked with a kind of 

 net\vork,and contains from six to ten seeds, 

 and a soft whitish pulp or flesh possessing 

 an agreeable sweet taste. [A. S.] 



LEONOTIS. A genus of herbaceous or 



somewhat shrubby plants belonging to the 

 Labiatce, well distinguished among its con- 

 geners by the elongated concave entire 

 upper lip of the corolla, and the very short 

 lower lip which is nearly equally three-cleft. 



1 The species inhabit the southern hemi- 

 I sphere, and are cultivated in English con- 

 ! servatories for the sake of their handsome 

 , orange flowers, which grow in dense 

 ] whorls, with numerous very narrow bracts. 



The Greek name Leonotis (or Lion's ear) 

 I was given from some fancied resemblance 



of the corolla to a lion's ear. One species, 

 I L. Leonurus, a native of the Cape of Good 

 | Hope, received its second systematic, and 

 I its popular name Lion's tail, from the as- 

 j sumed resemblance of the inflorescence to 

 J a lion's tail, an infelicitous combination of 

 ; not very apposite terms. French, Queue de 



lion ; German, Liiwenschwanz. [C. A. J.] 



LEONTICE. A small genus of Berberida- 

 cece, of Southern and Eastern Europe, and 

 Western and Northern Asia, consisting of 

 smooth herbaceous plants with tuberous 

 roots, which annually send up several 

 variously-cut leaves, and stems about a 

 foot or a foot and a half high, bearing 

 I smaller leaves, and racemes of small yellow 

 j flowers. The calyx consists of six coloured 

 ! sepals; the corolla of six smaller stalked 

 \ petals, bearing scales at the bottom on the 

 j inside. The fruits are inflated or bladder- 

 ! like, of a thin texture, marked with netted 

 j veins. L. Leontopetalum is a strong-growing 

 j herbaceous plant, having large long-stalked 

 leaves, composed of six inversely egg- 

 shaped stalked leaflets arranged in threes. 

 It is commonly called Lion's leaf, on ac- 

 count of a fancied resemblance between 

 the leaves and the imprint of a lion's foot. 

 Its tuberous roots, sometimes called Lion's 

 turnips, are pounded and used at Aleppo, 

 instead of soap, for washing woollen gar- 

 ments, and more particularly for taking 

 out spots or stains from Cashmere shawls. 

 Medicinal properties were formerly as 

 cribed to them, Dioscorides attributing to 

 them the power of allaying the pain caused 

 by snake-bites ; and the Turks of the pre- 

 sent day employ them as an antidote to the 

 effects of overdoses of opium. [A. S.] 



LEONTODON. A genus of Composite, 

 having a perennial rootstock, from which 

 proceed, near to the ground, a number of 

 spreading toothed leaves. The flower- 

 stalks are usually leafless, the flowers 

 yellow, all strap-shaped, surrounded by 

 several rows of overlapping bracts, but the 

 receptacle on which the flowers are imme- 

 diately placed is destitute of bracts. The 

 fruits taper above into a short beak, and 

 are surmounted by a pappus of feathery 

 hairs, which latter circumstance serves to 

 separate the genus from the nearly-allied 

 Taraxacum, The species are widely spread 

 over Europe and central Asia. Three of 

 them, according to Mr. Bentham, are Bri- 

 tish, viz. L. hispidus, autumnalis (formerly 

 ranged under Apargia), and hirtus (which 

 has been also called Tlirincia). L. hispidus 

 is covered with short hairs that are fre- 

 quently stellate. [M. T. M.J 



LEONTOPODIUM. A genus established 

 by Cassini and adopted by De Candolle for 

 the GnaphaliumLeontopodium from the Alps 

 of Europe, and two closely-allied species or 



