689 



®;\)c Crcagurg of &atan& 



[live 



Two are British : L. ovata, the common 

 Tway-blade, which has a stem often above 

 a foot high, and broadly ovate leaves two 

 to four inches long ; and L. cordata, a more 

 northern mountain plant, seldom above 

 six inches high, with the leaves small, and 

 usually slightly cordate. 



LITANTHE8. A genus of Liliacece, from 

 the Cape of Good Hope. An extremely small 

 herb, with a bulb almost the size of a pea, 

 a bristle-like scape appearing before the 

 leaves, and a single small drooping flower, 

 with a greenish-white tubular cylindrical 

 perianth, having a six-cleft limb, and six 

 included stamens. [J. T. S.] 



LITCHI. The fruit of Nephelium Litchi, 

 a plant sometimes referred to Euphoria or 

 Dimocarpus. 



LITHOCARPUS. A genus of Cupuli- 

 ferce, consisting of lofty trees with alter- 

 nate entire leaves, and monoecious flowers 

 in catkins. The male catkins are filiform, 

 with a cup-shaped six-cleft perianth, and 

 twelve to twenty stamens inserted at its 

 base ; while the female flowers are sessile 

 on a common rachis, surrounded by scales. 

 The fruit is a hard nut, enclosed in scales. 

 L.javensis is the only species. [J. H. B.] 



LITHOSPERMUM. The Gromwell genus, 

 a large group of Boraginacea?., known by 

 having the corolla regular, funnel-shaped 

 or salver-shaped, without scales at the 

 throat, where are often five plaits ; and by 

 the nuts not being contracted at the base, 

 and having a flat surface of adhesion to 

 the receptacle. The species are generally 

 distributed, but most numerous in the 

 warmer parts of the temperate zone. They 

 are rough strigosely hairy herbs or under- 

 shrubs, with bracteated racemes of purple, 

 blue, white, or yellow flowers. [J. T. S.] 



LITHOXYLOX. A genus of Euphorbia- 

 ceo?, established by Endlicher for the Secu- 

 rinega nitida, an Otaheitan plant, differing 

 in some slight particulars from the rest of 

 that genus. 



LITHY-TREE. Viburnum Lantana. 



LITMUS. A blue dye prepared from 

 Eoccella tinctoria and some other lichens, j 

 by maceration and occasional agitation in 

 a mixture of urine, lime, and potash. A j 

 kind of fermentation takes place, and the 

 lichen becomes first reddish, and then blue. ' 

 When dried it has, if rubbed with the nail, 

 a coppery tint like indigo. Litmus is of 

 great importance to chemists, as it affords 

 a delicate test for acids and alkalies, since 

 blue litmus acquires from acids a red tint, 

 which is restored by alkalies. For this 

 purpose paper is steeped in a solution of 

 litmus, and then dried and bound up in 

 packets ; when so prepared, it is sold under 

 the name of test-paper. [M. J. B.] 



LITOBROCHIA. A genus of pteroid 

 ferns, closely allied indeed to Pteris itself, 

 from which it is separated by the reticula- 

 tion of the veins of the fronds. From 

 AmpMbtestra, another reticulated genus of 

 Pteridece, it is known by the absence of 



free veinlets from the areoles ; while Lon- 

 chitis, which also agrees with it in this 

 particular, is known by its sori being for 

 the most part confined to the sinuses of 

 the segments, whence it takes a lunate 

 form, those of Litobrochia being con- 

 tinuous along the whole margin of the 

 segments. The group Dorijopteris, with 

 simple or palmate fronds, which is some- 

 times separated as a distinct genus, has the 

 veins hidden in the substance of the fronds ; 

 while in true Litobrochia the fronds are 

 once, twice, or thrice pinnate, and the 

 veins are more distinctly visible. They 

 are nearly all of them natives of tropical 

 climates, and are found in considerable 

 numbers in both hemispheres. [T. M.j 



LITS^EA. A genus of Indian trees of 

 the laurel family, with reticulated leaves 

 and flowers in axillary tufts, protected by 

 numerous overlapping scales which fall 

 off after a time. The flowers are unisexual, 

 both males and females having a four to 

 six-parted deciduous perianth : the former 

 with six stamens having four-celled an- 

 thers, and some of the stamens glandular 

 at the base; the latter with four or six 

 sterile stamens, and a number of glands 

 surrounding the ovary. The fruit is fleshy, 

 and placed upon the thickened top of the 

 flower-stalk. DM. T. M.] 



LITT.EA. Under this name Tagliabue, 

 an Italian botanist, described a South 

 American Agave, which flowered for the 

 first time in Europe in the garden of the 

 Duke of Litta, near Milan, in 1815 ; but 

 which now bears the name of Agave gemi- 

 nifiora. It has a short stout trunk,bearing 

 on its summit a dense crowd of narrow 

 whip-like dull-green leaves, from the 

 midst of which, once in the lifetime of 

 the plant, rises a straight spear-like stem, 

 twenty or more feet high, bearing an im- 

 mense number of yellowish-green flowers, 

 with long protruding stamens furnished 

 with versatile anthers. [A. S.] 



LITTLEGOOD. Euphorbia helioscopia. 



LITTORAL. Growing on the sea-shore. 



LITTORELLA. An herbaceous perennial 

 belonging to the Plantaginacece, common 

 on the margins of the English and Scottish 

 lakes, where it forms a turf. The leaves, 

 all of which proceed directly from the 

 roots, are grass-like but fleshy; and the 

 flowers are some barren and some fertile, 

 the latter sessile among the leaves, the 

 former elevated in scapes two or three 

 inches high, and remarkable for their four 

 long slender filaments and tremulous an- 

 thers. L. lacustris, commonly called Shore- 

 weed, is the only species. [0. A. J.] 



LITUATE. Forked, with the points a 

 little turned outwards. 



LITURATE. When spots are formed by 

 the abrasion of the surface. 



LIVECHE. (Fr.) Levisticum. 



LIVELONG, or LIVE-FOR-EVER. Sedum 

 Telephium. 



YT 



