LEPl] 



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672 



whole plant possesses an extremely pun- 

 gent taste. [A. S.] 



L. sativum, the Garden Cress, is a hardy 

 annual whose native country is stated to 

 be Persia. It has been cultivated in this 

 country since 1548, and is a comparatively 

 dwarf uninteresting plant, having oblong 

 alternate deeply-divided leaves, smooth 

 erect branching stems, and small white 

 flowers producing an orbicular winged 

 seed-pod. The chief purpose for which it 

 is grown in gardens is for its leaves, which 

 are cut and used in a young state with 

 those of mustard for salads, to which it 

 gives a peculiarly warm and grateful 

 flavour. It is on this account very gene- 

 rally cultivated and esteemed as one of the 

 most, useful plants for small salads that we 

 possess. The leaves when full grown are 

 frequently employed for garnishing like 

 those of parsley. [W. B. B.] 



LEPIDOCARYUM. A genus of palms 

 containing two species found in moist 

 places in forests on the banks of the Rio 

 Negro in Brazil. Both have slender stems 

 of ten or twelve feet high, the upper part 

 being covered with remnants of the stalks 

 of dead leaves, and hearing at the summit a 

 tuft of fern-shaped irregularly-cleft leaves 

 with bristly margins. They have perfect 

 and imperfect flowers; and their flower- 

 spike consists of numerous little catkins 

 proceeding from sheathing spathesat short 

 intervals along its branches; the male cat- 

 kins being longer than those of the female, 

 and having their flowers in pairs within 

 cup-shaped bracts, while in the latter they 

 are solitary. Their fruits are of a reddish- 

 brown colour and vary from the size of a 

 hazel-nut to that of a pigeon's egg, and, 

 like those of other palms belonging to the 

 same section iCalamece.), are covered with 

 hard scales arranged like plates of mail in 

 ancient armour. Neither of the species 

 (L. gracile and L.tenue) possesses any spe- 

 cial feature of interest. [A. S.J 



LEPIDONEURON. Nephrolepis. 



LEPIDOSTACHYS. A name given by 

 TVallich to a genus of East Indian Euphor- 

 bmccce, which proves to be the same as 

 the Scepa of Lindley and the Aporoaa of 

 Blume. 



LE'PIDOSTEPHANUS. Acliyrochana. 



LEPIDOTIS. Lycopodium. 



LEPIGONUM. Spergulctria. 



LEPINGIA germanorum is a procum- 

 bent branching Californian annual, form 

 ing a genus of Compositw, which has the 

 aspect of an Asterece with the style of one 

 of the Senecionidce. The lower leaves are 

 pinnatifid, the upper ones entire, the 

 flower-heads yellow, not showy, either ter- 

 minal or lateral, without rays. The invo- 

 lucre is imbricated, the receptacle naked, 

 the achenes silky, villous, with a pappus of 

 rather stiff bristles. 



LEPIOTA. The annulus of certain fun- 



| LEPISANTHES. A genus proposed by 

 | Blume for two or three East Indian trees 

 j which maybe better considered as forming 

 a subgenus or section of Cupania. 



LEPISMA. A cup-shaped disk. 



LEPISMIUM. A small genus of Caciacece 

 at one time regarded as a section of Rhip- 

 salis, but now separated, and characterised 

 by the petal-like leaves of its perianth 

 standing almost erect, while those of 

 Rkipsalis are widely expanded ; and by its 

 smooth pear-shaped fruits being somewhat 

 buried in the fleshy substance of the 

 branches. The three or four known spe- 

 cies are natives of Brazil. They have 

 weak, fleshy, jointed branches, occasionally 

 emitting roots, the joints being sharply 

 three or four-angled, waved along the 

 edges, and bearing tufts of hairs seated 

 upon little cushions in the depressions 

 from out of which the small cream-colour- 

 ed fiow r ers are produced. L. commune and 

 L. Myosurus are cultivated in European 

 gardens. [A. S.J 



LEPISTEMON. A genus of Convolvulacece, 

 containing two species, natives of India 

 and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. 

 They are twining hairy shrubs, with many- 

 flowered axillary peduncles. The calyx 

 consists of five equal sepals ; the corolla is 

 tubular and inflated at the base ; the five 

 stamens spring from the back of as many 

 large arched hairy scales which are united 

 to the base of the corolla; the ovary is 

 two-celled with two ovules in each cell, and 

 bears a stigma composed of two capitate 

 lobes. [W. C.J 



LEPISTOMA javanicum is a twining 

 shrub, with elliptical oblong leaves, and 

 mterpetiolar peduncles, growing in the 

 Island of Java, and representing a genus 

 of Asclepiadacece. The calyx is turbinate 

 and has five teeth ; the corolla is rotate and 

 five-cleft; whilst the fruit is unknown. 

 Uses not recorded. [B. S.J 



LEPRA (adj.LEPROUSb A white mealy 

 matter, which exudes or protrudes from 

 the surface of some plants; leprosy. 



LEPRARIA. An abnormal condition 

 of certain lichens in which the crust is 

 broken up into a dusty mass, occasionally 

 mixed with a few threads. The yellow 

 powdery and white patches which are so 

 common on oak are examples, the one 

 being a condition of some lichen like 

 Parmelia varietina, and the latter of Porina 

 pertusa. The genus is now, however, justly 

 exploded. [M. J. B.] 



LEPROSE. Having a scurfy appear- 

 ance. 



LEPTADENIA. A genus of Asclepia- 

 dacece, inhabiting tropical and subtropical 

 parts of Africa and Asia, and comprising 

 erect leafless shrubs, or twiners furnished 

 with leaves. There are about a dozen spe- 

 cies described, all having a greyish to- 

 mentum covering stem and leaves. The 

 flowers are white, small, and arranged in 

 interpetiolar umbels. The calyx is short, 



