LODl] 



€f)e Ereagurg at Matmxy. 



692 



LODICULE. The hypogynous scale of a 

 grass. 



LODOICEA. Prior to the discovery in 

 1743 of the Seychelles Islands, the exist- 

 ence of the palm, L. seehellarum, upon 

 which this genus is founded, was unknown, 

 hut its immense woody nuts were fre- 

 quently found floating upon the sea, or 

 were thrown up on the shores of the Mal- 

 dive Islands, and gave rise to many absurd 

 fahulous tales. It was called the Double 

 Cocoa-nut Palm, Coco de Mer, or Coco des 

 Maldives. The tree has a nearly cylindrical 

 trunk, scarcely exceeding a foot in dia- 

 meter, and bearing a crown of large fan- 

 shaped leaves, some of which are upwards 

 of twenty feet long, and twelve feet wide. 

 They are of two sexes, both of which 

 have three sepals and three petals to the 

 flowers, those of the females being large, 

 thick, and fleshy. The fruits externally are 

 covered with a thick fibrous husk, and 

 contain usually one, but sometimes two or 

 even three immense stones or nuts with 

 excessively hard and thick black shells, 

 each being divided half-way down into 

 two lobes, whence the popular name. 



In olden times important medicinal vir- 

 tues were attributed to these nuts, water 

 drunk out of vessels made of them being 

 supposed to preserve people from all com- 

 plaints, and extravagant prices were con- 

 sequently paid for them. At the present 

 day they are converted into various do- 

 mestic utensils, while the wood serves 

 many useful purposes, and the leaves are 

 made into hats and beautiful baskets, 

 cigar-cases, &c, besides being used for 

 thatching. [A. S.] 



This magnificent palm, which is found 

 only in two small islands, Praslin and 

 Curieuse, belonging to the Seychelles 

 group, requires a great length of time to 

 arrive at maturity. The shortest period 

 before it puts forth its flower-buds is 

 thirty years, and a hundred years elapse 

 before it attains its full growth. From the 

 age of fifteen to twenty-five years it is in 

 its greatest beauty, the leaves at this pe- 

 riod being much larger than they are sub- 

 sequently. The stem grows quite upright, 

 straight as an iron pillar, and in the male 

 trees frequently attains a hundred feet in 

 height, the females being shorter. At the 

 age of thirty it first puts forth its blos- 

 soms, the males forming enormous catkins 

 about three feet in length and three inches 

 in diameter, while the females are set on a 

 strong zigzag stalk, from which hang four 

 or five, or sometimes as many as eleven 

 nuts, averaging about 40 lbs. weight each. 

 From the time of flowering to the matura- 

 tion of the fruit, a period of nearly ten years 

 elapses, the fullsize, however, being attain- 

 ed in about four years, at which time it is 

 soft and full of a semi-transparent jelly- 

 like substance. The arrangements pro- 

 vided by nature for the roots of this tree, 

 are of a most peculiar kind. The base 

 of the stem is rounded, and fits into a na- 

 tural bowl or socket about two and a half 

 feet in diameter and eighteen inches in 



depth ; this bowl is pierced with hundreds 

 of small oval holes about the size of a 

 thimble, with hollow tubes corresponding 

 on the outside, through which the roots 

 penetrate the ground on all sides, never 

 however becoming attached! to the bowl, 

 their partial elasticity affording an almost 

 imperceptible but very necessary ' play' to 

 the parent stem when struggling against 

 the force of violent gales. This bowl is of 

 the same substance as the shell of the nut, 

 only much thicker ; it rots very slowly, for 

 it has been found quite perfect and entire 

 in every respect sixty years after the tree 

 has been cut down. The reprehensible 

 practice of destroying the trees for the 

 sake of their nuts will, it is to be feared, 

 lead to the extinction of the Coco de Mer, 

 which will become in reality as rare as it 

 was supposed to be by the voyagers who 

 picked up the first known specimens of its 

 nuts floating on the sea. [T. MJ 



LCEFLINGIA. A small genus of IUece- 

 oracew, consisting of small annuals from 

 the Mediterranean region and California. 

 They have awl-shaped opposite leaves, 

 bristle-like half-adhering stipules, and very 

 small sessile flowers in pairs or threes in 

 the axils of the leaves and the forks of | 

 the dichotomous branches, forming small 

 dense fasciculate cymes. [J. T. SJ 



LOGANIACEiE. (SpigeliaceoB, Sirychnece, I 

 Potaliacea?, Ccelostylea?, Loganiads.) A na- i 

 tural order of dicotyledonous plants, be- ' 

 longing to Lindley's gentianal alliance of 

 perigynous Exogens. Herbs, shrubs, or 

 trees, furnished with opposite entire sti- j 

 pulate leaves ; calyx inferior, four to five- 

 parted ; corolla four, five, or ten-cleft, with 

 convolute or valvate asstivation ; stamens 

 varying in number, not always equal to the 

 parts of the corolla. Fruit a two-celled 

 capsule with loose placentas, or a berry, 

 or succulent with one or two nucules ; 

 seeds usually peltate, with albumen. They 

 inhabit chiefly tropical and warm coun- 

 tries. The plants are bitter and highly 

 poisonous. The poison-nut, Strychnos nvx 

 vomica, belongs to the order. There are 

 upwards of thirty genera and nearly two 

 hundred species. Examples: Lngania, Spi- j 

 gelia, and Strychnos. [J. H. B,] I 



LOGANIA. A genus of Monopetalce ! 

 which has given its name to the order 

 LoganiacecB. It consists of fifteen or six- 

 teen Australian species, and one from New 

 Zealand, all herbs or small shrubs, with 

 opposite entire leaves, and small flowers in 

 axillary or terminal cymes or panicles. In 

 botanical characters they differ chiefly from 

 Buddleia (by some referred to . Scrophu- 

 lariacece) in the parts of the flower being 

 usually in fives instead of in fours, in 

 foliage and habit, and in the absence of 

 that stellate down or tomentum so uni- 

 versal in Buddleia. None of the species 

 are of any particular interest either as use- 

 ful or ornamental plants. 



LOGGERHEADS. Centaurea nigra. 



LOGWOOD. The wood of Hcematoxylon 



