679 



&I)C Crcas'urp of 2Sfltaug. 



[lich 



Indian name for Vanilla claviculata. — A 

 SIROP. A name given by the French 

 colonists to Columnea scandens. — ROUGE. 

 Tetracera Tig area. 



LIARD. (Fr.) Populus balsamifera. 



LIARDIER. (Fr.) Populus nigra. 



LIATRIS. A genus of North American 

 herbaceous plants, belonging to the tribe 

 Cichoraceaz of compound flowers, distin- 

 guished by having a naked receptacle, an 

 oblong imbricated involucre, and a fea- 

 thery pappus. Many of the species are 

 pretty plants, ■well worthy of cultivation : 

 among them L. squarrosa, a handsome 

 species with very long narrow leaves, and 

 large heads of beautiful purple flowers; 

 L. scariosa, well marked by the involucral 

 scales, which are margined with purple ; 

 L. spicata, which, as its name indicates, 

 bears its flowers in a spike ; and L. odo- 

 ratissima, of which the leaves, when dry, 

 give out a smell resembling vanilla. L. 

 scariosa and squarrosa are called in North 

 America Rattlesnake's Master, because the 

 tubers bruised are considered a specific 

 for the bite of that reptile. [C. A J.] 



| LIBANOTIS. A genus of umbellifers, 



I chiefly distinguished by having the border 



of the calyx in five slender awl-shaped and 



coloured divisions, which fall off before the 



J fruit ripens. The species are herbs, na- 



, tives of Europe and middle Asia; their 



i leaves are pinnate, with ovate pinnas, cut 



i or deeply incised. The name is from the 



| Greek word signifying incense, indicating 



the odour of some of the species. [G. D.] 



LIBER, (adj.). Free: as when there is 

 no cohesion between parts in contact with 

 each other. 



LIBER, (subst.). The inner lining of the 

 bark of Exogens, where alone its woody 

 matter resides. 



LIBERTIA. A small genus of Iridacece, 

 natives of Australia, Tasmania, New Zea- 

 land, and Chili, distinguished from Sisy- 

 rinchium by the stamens being distinct, 

 or connate only at the very base, and hav- 

 ing versatile anthers. The few species 

 are herbs, with creeping rhizomes or 

 fibrous roots, grassy leaves, and panicled 

 i inflorescence, with the flowers almost in 

 umbels. The flowers are always white, 

 except the sepals, which are occasionally 

 greenish. [A. S.] 



LIBOCEDRTTS. Two Chilian and two 

 New Zealand trees are all the known 

 species of this genus belonging to the 

 Ciqrressece section of conifers. They are 

 closely related to the arbor-vitas (Thuja), 

 from which they differ by the scales of 

 their cones being valvate, and having each 

 only one seed at its base, and also by their 

 seeds being unequally winged. One of the 

 New Zealand species, L. Doniana, the Ka- 

 waka of the natives, is a fine timber tree 

 growing 60 or 100 feet high, and yields an 

 excellent fine-grained heavy, dark-colour- 

 ed wood, useful for both planks and spars ; 



New Zealand species, is so soft and porous 

 that soap-bubbles may be blown through a 

 piece a foot in length. Both the Chilian 

 species, L. tetragona and L. chilensis, are 

 timber trees of large size. The former is 

 the Alerse of that country, and yields the 

 South American timber of that name, 

 which is largely used on the Southern Pa- 

 cific coast, and forms an important article 

 of trade to the Chilians. Spars eighty or 

 ninety feet long are obtainable from it; 

 and a single tree often yields 800 to 1,000 

 or even 1,500 boards. Its grain, too, is so 

 straight and equal that it can be split 

 into shingles, which look as though they 

 had been dressed with a plane. [A. S.] 



LIBIDIBI. A name given to the pods 

 of Ccesalpinia or Lebidibia coriaria. 



LIBRA. The best kind of tobacco grown 

 in the western part of Cuba. 



LICANIA. A genus of Clirysobalanaceo?, 

 containing about twenty species, mostly 

 inhabitants of the forests of Guiana and 

 Brazil. They are timber trees or large 

 shrubs, and have large entire leathery 

 leaves, and small flowers in terminal clus- 

 ters. Several undetermined species of this 

 genus afford the Pottery bark, the ashes of 

 which are used by the natives of the Ama- 

 zon for mixing with the clay employed in 

 the manufacture of pottery-ware, in order 

 to enable the vessels to withstand the ac- 

 tion of fire. The Indians call these trees 

 Caraipe, but botanists have adopted that 

 name for a genus of Ternstromiacece, owing 

 to the Pottery tree having at one time 

 been supposed to belong to that order. 

 Mr. Spruce describes them as exceedingly 

 straight slender and lofty trees, having 

 trunks not exceeding twelve or fifteen 

 inches in diameter, growing to a height 

 of a hundred feet before sending forth 

 branches, the wood being so hard that or- 

 dinary tools will not cut it. The bark is 

 likewise exceedingly hard, and very gritty 

 from the large quantity of silex it con- 

 tains, and to which it owes its property. 

 The Indians burn the bark, reduce it to 

 powder in a mortar, and then mix it with 

 an equal quantity of the best clay they 

 can procure, using it for all kinds of uten- I 

 sils required to stand fire-heat. [A. S.] 



LICCA TREE. Sapindus spinosus. 



LICE, BEGGAR'S. An American name \ 

 for Cynoglossum Morisoni. 



LICHENS. A large tribe of cryptogams \ 

 belonging to the fungal alliance, and dis- 

 tinguished from Fungi by their not deriv- I 

 ing nutriment in general from the sub- I 

 stance on which they grow, but from the I 

 surrounding medium ; by their slow deve- 

 lopment and long endurance ; and, techni- 

 cally, by their producing within their sub- 

 stance granules distinct from the general 

 tissue, called gonidia,which in certain con- 

 ditions are reproductive. In fructification 

 they agree with ascomycetous Fungi, and 

 like them have either a second form of 

 fruit (stylospores) contained in distinct 



while the wood of L. Bidvjillii, the other cysts (pycnidia), or minute bodies variously 



