J some -when in flower. The whole plant is 

 . more or less clothed with short stiff hairs ; 

 ! the lower leaves, a foot long, lanceolate 

 I and coarsely toothed, the upper amplexi- 

 I ! caul ; the flower-heads more than an inch 

 | across, the ray-florets strap-shaped, purple, 

 and very narrow. [A. A. B.] 



LEPTOTICHUS. Thin-sided ; a term 

 ! applied only to tissue. 

 i LEPTOTES. A small genus of Brazilian 

 ! orchids of the tribe Epidendrece, distin- 

 ' guished by having the sepals and petals 

 | linear spreading and nearly equal ; the lip 

 three-lobed, parallel with the short thick 

 column, around which the lateral lobes 

 are convolute; the six pollen-masses in- 

 cumbent, the two upper ones pear-shaped, 

 the four lower ones unequal and thinner. 

 I L. bicolor, a pretty epiphyte with thick rush- 

 like leaves, and white flowers blotched on 

 the lip with purple, bears fragrant fruit 

 j with the odour of the Tonquin bean or of 

 the sweet vernal grass. This fruit infused 

 ; In cream gives it, when iced, a mild agree- 

 able flavour, sweeter than vanilla but less 

 penetrating. L. serrulata is a second spe- 

 cies with larger flowers. [T. M.] 



1 LEPTTJRUS. A genus of grasses belong- 

 ing to the tribe Bottboellew. The inflores- 

 cence is mostly in close round solitary 

 spikelets, imbedded alternately on oppo- 



1 site sides of the rachis ; glumes one or 

 two, thick, on the same side of the spike- 

 let, which contains one perfect floret, and 

 the rudiment only of a second floret. The 

 species are mostly natives of the north- 

 east of Europe and Xew Holland. L. incur- 

 vatus extends to the British Isles, and 

 grows on most of the salt marshes along 

 the seaboard, where it often furnishes the 

 principal pasture grass. [D. M.] 



LEPURANDRA. The Sack-tree of West- 

 ern India, a tree of the Artocarpacece, now 

 referred to A ntiaris and called A. saccidora, 

 has been so called. It is a gigantic tree, 

 reaching a height of a hundred feet, with 

 a trunk six feet in diameter, exuding a 

 milky juice when wounded, and having a 

 strong tough fibrous inner bark useful for 

 the manufacture of cordage, and of which 

 the natives, by an ingenious yet simple 

 process, make capital sacks. For this pur- 

 pose young trees of about a foot in dia- 

 meter are selected, and cut into junks of 

 the same length as the sack required. 

 These are then soaked for a short time 

 and afterwards beaten with clubs until 

 the outer bark is removed and the inner 

 loosened so that it can readily be separated 

 by turning it inside out. "Sometimes a 

 small piece of the wood is left to form the 

 bottom of the sack, but more frequently 

 the bark is pulled entirely off and the 

 bottom sewed up. These sacks are com- 

 monly used by the natives of Western 

 India and of Ceylon for carrying rice, &c, 

 and are very strong and elastic. A con- 

 siderable quantity of milky viscid juice 

 exudes from the fruit when wounded, and 

 hardens into the appearance and consist- 

 ence of bees' wax, but eventually becomes 



black and shining ; the seeds have an in- 

 tensely bitter taste. [A. S.] 



LEPYRODIA. A genus of Australian 

 Bestiacece with simple leafless stems, and 

 compound spikes of dioecious, or rarely 

 simple spikes of perfect flowers. [J. T. S.] 



LEQUEE. (Fr.) Lechea. 



LERENA. A species of Bajania, whose 

 roots are used in St. Domingo like potatos, 

 and are said to be extremely nutritive. 



LERIA. A genus of Composite of the 

 tribe Mutisiece, consisting of South Ame- 

 rican perennials, with the leaves all radical 

 j and white cottony underneath, and soli- 

 tary flower-heads on long simple cottony 

 | scapes. The inner disk florets are obscurely 

 I bilabiate, while the outer radiating ones 

 [ pass into ligules without any inner lip. The 

 pappus consists of numerous simple bristles. 

 There are about half a dozen species known, 

 : none of them in cultivation. 



i LESCHEXAULTIA. A genus of goode- 

 ; niaceous heath-like shrubs, distinguished 

 [ by having a tubular calyx with five linear 

 : sharp-pointed lobes and a partially two-lip- 

 I ped corolla, the tube of which is split on 

 ! its upper side. The anthers cohere previous 

 | to the opening of the flowers, which are 

 | axillary or terminal, of a red, blue, or yel- 

 low colour. The leaves are linear and 

 sharp-pointed. The plants are natives of 

 the south and south-west parts of Australia, 

 and are very ornamental. [R. H.] 



LESKEA. A genus of pleurocarpous 

 mosses, distinguished from Hypnum by its 

 erect more or less symmetrical capsule, 

 and the want in general of intermediate 

 cilia. The limits are not, however, very 

 acutely marked. Our commonest species, 

 L. sericea, grows on almost every ash tree, 

 forming silky yellowish-green patches, 

 which are darker when dry, and add much 

 to the picturesque effect of the bark. There 

 are many exotic species. [M. J.B.] 



LESSERTIA. A genus of Leguminosm 

 of the suborder Papilionaeece, consisting of 

 herbs or undershrubs with pinnate leaves, 

 and red or purple flowers in axillary ra- 

 cemes. There are nearly twenty species de- j 

 scribed, all from the Cape Colony. They 

 much resemble the Australian Sicainsona, I 

 both in habit and character, differing I 

 chiefly in the pod, which, though membra- j 

 nous as in Swainsona, is perfectly flat, and \ 

 never inflated. None of the species are | 

 in cultivation, and few are so showy as 

 those of Swainsona. 



LESSINGIA. A genus of Californian 



Compositce consisting of procumbent 

 branched herbs, with thickish leaves, the 

 lower ones pinnatifid, and yellow solitary 

 terminal flower-heads, with an imbricated 

 involucre and naked receptacle, the florets 

 all tubulose, those of the ray larger than 

 the rest. The achenes are silky and com- 

 pressed, with a pappus of one row, the 

 hairs rigid and scabrous. [T. M.] 



LESSONIA. A genus of seaweeds be- 



