LOME] 



Qlfyz {feagurj) at 28 o tang. 



69i 



is not membranous, but soft and leathery ; 

 also in the seeds, which have a thick black 

 seed-coat. From Yucca it is known by the 

 perianth not having the leaves all separate. 

 It has an arborescent stem or caudex, with 

 the leaves collected at the top, elongate- 

 lanceolate, with cartilaginous spiny-ser- 

 rate margins, and axillary peduncles bear- 

 ing paniculate flowers. [J. T. S.] 



LOMENTACE2E. A suborder of Cruci- 

 ferce characterised by the siliqua or pod 

 being lomentaceous, that is, having com- 

 plete transverse partitions separating each 

 seed from those next to it. Sometimes the 

 true siliqua is barren, and the seeds are 

 placed in the partitioned beak of the pod. 

 Among British plants this suborder is re- 

 presented by Cakile mariiima, Crambe ma- 

 ritima, Eaphanus Raplianistrum, and B. 

 maritimus. [J. H. B.] 



LOMENTUM (adj. LOMENTACEOUS). 

 An indehiscerit legume, which separates 

 spontaneously by a transverse articulation 

 between each seed. 



LONCHITIS. A pteroid genus of ferns, 

 having large herbaceous twice or thrice 

 pinnate fronds, and a thick short rhizome, 

 the fructification forming marginal indu- 

 siate lines as in Pteris, but differing in 

 being of a lunate figure from their occu- 

 pying the rounded sinuses between the 

 segments rather than the margins of the 

 segments themselves. This is the prevail- 

 ing character, but occasionally the sori are 

 extended up the sides of the segments. 

 they occur in the Mauritius, Madagascar, 

 the Cape, and South America. [T. M.] 



LONCHOCARPUS. An extensive genus 

 of leguminous plants, of which the greater 

 number belong to tropical America, and 

 seven to tropical Africa. Some are small 

 trees, seldom exceeding thirty or forty 

 feet in height, and others tall climbing 

 shrubs with woody steins. They have al- 

 ternate pinnate leaves, except in a solitary 

 species from Southern Mexico, in which 

 they are reduced to a single leaflet ; and 

 their pea-like flowers are in racemes and 

 either purple reddish or white, but never 

 yellow. The genus is solely distinguished 

 from its congeners by its pods.the structure 

 of its flowers not differing from that of 

 Piscidia and other allied genera. The pod is 

 flat, much longer than broad, varying from 

 a thin paper-like to a hard woody consist- 

 ency, and without wings along the edges, 

 the seed-bearing edge being merely thick- 

 ened or flattened. 



The leaves and young branches of several 

 species of this genus are employed by the 

 Indians of South America for poisoning 

 fish, or rather for intoxicating them, so 

 that they float upon the surface of the 

 water in an insensible state, and are thus 

 captured, but afterwards recover and are 

 good food. One species used for this pur- 

 pose by the Indians of Guiana was called 

 Jficou — its Indian name, but it now bears 

 the name of L. rufescens. [A. SJ 



LONCHOSTOMA. A genus of the hy- 



drophyllaceous order, having the border of 

 the corolla in five lanceolate divisions ; and 

 the styles two, and shorter than the tube of 

 the corolla. The species are Cape shrubs, 

 with alternate entire ovate leaves ; the 

 flowers solitary in the axils of the upper 

 leaves. [G. D.] 



LONDESIA. A genus of Chenopodiacece 

 from the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. 

 L. eriantha is a branched annual covered 

 with white wool ; the leaves alternate, ob- 

 long or lanceolate, entire ; and the flowers 

 on short axillary branches, in involucrate 

 bracteated small globose heads : they 'are 

 polygamous, the females more abundant 

 than the perfect ones. [J. T. S.] 



LONDON PRIDE. Saxifraga unibrosa. 



LONGAN, or LONG- YEN. The fruit of 

 Nephelium Longanum. 



LONG-BEARD. Tillandsia usneoides. 



LONG-GLAND. Macradenia. 



LONGITUDO. In the direction of 

 growth. 



LONG-PTTRPLE. Shakspeare's name for 

 Orchis musculo,. 



LONICERA. An extensive genus of 

 climbing or upright shrubs inhabiting 

 both eastern and western hemispheres, and 

 much cultivated for the sake of ornament 

 and the fragrance of their flowers. The 

 genus is by some botanists divided into 

 two subgenera, Capri folium and Xylosteum. 

 In its widest extent it includes all plants 

 belonging to the order Caprifoliacece mark- 

 ed by the following characters: Calyx small, 

 live-toothed ; corolla tubular, five-cleft, 

 generally irregular ; stamens five ; style 

 filiform; stigma capitate; ovary one to 

 three-celled, few-seeded. L. Periclymenum, 

 the common Honeysuckle, the Woodbine of 

 Shakspeare, the twisted Eglantine of Mil- 

 ton, is too well known to need any descrip- 

 tion, though it maybe noticed in passing 

 that the varieties with red and yellow buds 

 are both of the same species. L. Capri foliuvi 

 is distinguished from the preceding by 

 having the upper pairs of leaves united at 

 the base so as to form a cup. These two 

 species havered berries whichareglutinous 

 and sweet, but unpalatable. The latter is 

 sometimes found apparently wild, but is 

 not considered to be a true native. L. Xylo- 

 steum bears its flowers in pairs, and has an 

 upright mode of growth. It is indigenous 

 to Britain, but of unusual occurrence. Be- 

 sides these, many foreign species are de- 

 scribed by botanists, of which L. semper- 

 virens, Trumpet Honeysuckle, a handsome 

 climbing species with evergreen foliage 

 and scarlet flowers, is a native of North 

 America; L. etrusca has orange-coloured 

 flowers ; and L.japonica, so often fisrured 

 in Chinese drawings, has evergreen foliage 

 and orange-coloured flowers in terminal 

 pairs. By some botanists the genus Loni- 

 cera is limited to those Honeysuckles 

 which have upright stems, the climbers 

 being placed in the genus Caprifolium. 

 Fr. Chtcrefeuille ; Ger. Geisblatt. [C. A. J.] 



