lept] 



WXyz Crea^ury of 2S0taug. 



674 



rally entirely destitute of leaves, or with 

 very small ones only upon the young twigs, 

 and bearing spikes of extremely minute 

 flowers. The fruit is either fleshy and 

 juicy or dry and juiceless, and has a scar 

 at the top surrounded by the remains of 

 the calyx. L. Billardieri is a pretty broom- 

 like shrub, growing about six feet high, 

 with erect very slender branches, and nu- 

 merous spikes of small white flowers pro- 

 ducing greenish -red berries, Avhich are 

 called Native Currants in New South Wales 

 and Victoria ; they have a pleasant acid 

 taste, combined with a certain degree of 

 astringency. Mixed with other fruits, 

 they are used for making preserves, and in 

 the preparation of cooling acid beverages. 

 The fruit of another species, L. {Omphaco- 

 meria) acerba, is also called Currants in 

 Australia, and is used for the same pur- 

 poses. [A. SJ 



LEPTONEMA. A low branching Mada- 

 gascar shrub, with the habit of a Vaccinium, 

 but constituting a genus of Euphorbiacece, 

 of the tribe Phyllanthece. Dr. Mueller has 

 since referred to the same genus, as a 

 second species, a shrub from tropical 

 Australia. 



LEPTOPETALTJM. This name, signify- 

 ing slender or narrow petal, is applied to a 

 Mexican shrub constituting a genus of 

 Cinchonace.ee. The flowers are in terminal 

 corymbs, and have a somewhat globular 

 calyx tube, with a four-toothed limb ; the 

 corolla is divided into four long very nar- 

 row segments ; stamens four, equalling 

 the corolla ; capsule hemispherical, crown- 

 ed by the teeth of the calyx, and open- 

 ing by a chink at the top; seeds small, 

 angular. [M. T. M.] 



LEPTOPTERIS. A Sumatra plant, pro- 

 posed by Blume as a distinct genus, but 

 which appears to be the same as the 

 Medicia of Gardner, a species of Gelse- 

 mium. 



The name is also sometimes unnecessarily 

 given to those species of Todea which have 

 delicate membranaceous fronds and oligo- 

 carpous sori. [T. M.] 



LEPTOPUS. An East Indian herb pro- 

 posed by Decaisne as a genus of Euphorbia- 

 cece, but reduced by Baillon to Andrachne. 



LEPTORHACHIS. A genus of Euphor- 

 biacece of the tribe Acalyphea?, founded by 

 Klotzsch on a Brazilian herbaceous twiner 

 with hastate leaves, which is, however, as 

 yet but little known. 



LEPTORHYNCHUS. A genus of Com- 

 positce allied to Heliehrysum, hut the florets 

 are all hermaphrodite, and the achenes are 

 narrowed into a slender beak bearing a 

 pappus of simple bristles. There are 

 several species, natives of Australia, all 

 erect herbs with narrow leaves and termi- 

 nal flower-beads of yellow florets, not so 

 handsome as other everlastings, the invo- 

 lucres being smaller and less scarious. 



LEPTOS. In Greek compounds=slender, 

 graceful ; as leptophyllus, slender-leaved. 



LEPTOSEMA. A North Australian pa- 

 pilionaceous shrub, proposed by Bentham 

 as a genus of Leguminosce, which has since 

 been reduced to Brachysema. 



LEPTOSIPHON. A genus of annuals 

 belonging to the Polemoniacece, introduced 

 j from California by Douglas in 1833. The 

 genus is marked by having a campanulate 

 calyx with very narrow pointed sepals, 

 and a funnel-shaped corolla, the tube of 

 which is very long and slender. All the 

 species have finely-divided leaves and bear 

 their flowers in dense corymbose heads, the 

 colour being yellow, pale blue, white, pink, 

 or various shades of these colours com- 

 bined. Several species are commonly cul- 

 tivated in English gardens, and when in 

 bloom present a showy appearance from 

 the abundance of their flowers. [C. A. J.] 



LEPTOSPERMUM. A large genus of 

 shrubs or small trees belonging to the 

 Myrtacece, and nearly all confined to 

 Australia and Tasmania. The leaves are 

 alternate, small, leathery, and full of dots 

 or cells containing oil ;: and their white 

 flowers are borne on short stalks on the 

 sides of the young branches, either soli- 

 tary or in little clusters. They have a bell- 

 shaped calyx with five lobes ; a corolla of 

 five roundish petals ; numerous short free 

 stamens ; and a four or five-celled ovary. 

 L. lanigerum, a native of Tasmania and 

 South-eastern Australia, is commonly 

 called Tea tree on account of its leaves 

 having been used by the early settlers in 

 those countries as a substitute for tea. It 

 sometimes forms a tree thirty feet high, 

 with a trunk four or five feet in circum- 

 ference, but in mountainous situations is 

 only a small shrub a few feet in height. 

 Its straight stems were used by the Aus- 

 tralian aborigines for making their spears, 

 the points being sharpened with a flint and 

 then hardened by means of fire. L. scopa- 

 rium, the Kahi-Katoa or Manuka of the 

 New Zealanders, a shrub of moderate 

 height, with harsh prickly leaves, produces 

 a very hard heavy wood, but its small size 

 renders it of little value. [A. S.] 



LEPTOSTACHYA. A genus of Acantha- 



) cece, containing seventeen species chiefly 



j natives of America and India. They are 



I herbs, rarely shrubs, with opposite leaves, 



and distant opposite flowers in slender 



terminal or axillary spikes, furnished with 



: many small bracts and bracteoles. The 



small calyx is five-parted ; the corolla rin- 



gent with a longish tube and a two-lipped 



I limb, the upper lip arching and two-tooth- 



j ed, the lower convex and trifid ; two sta- 



, mens are inserted in the tube; and the 



j ovary is two-celled surmounted by a simple 



! style and trifld stigma. This genus is less 



: distinct from its technical character than 



from its habit and inflorescence. [W. OJ 



LEPTOSTEGIA. Onychium. 



LEPTOSTELMA. The Mexican Daisy 

 (Erigeron maximum) is sometimes culti- 

 vated under this name. It attains a height 

 of five to seven feet, and is rather hand- 



