ltea] 



&f)e Creatfurj? af SSotang, 



704 



natives of the Cape Colony in Southern j 

 Africa. They are all herbs or low branch- | 

 ing undershrubs, the leaves opposite or | 

 the upper ones alternate, usually small, en- j 

 tire toothed or divided, and often clustered j 

 in the axils. The flowers are axillary or in j 

 terminal spikes or racemes, usually more j 

 or less viscous, and always turn black in 

 drying ; when fresh, they are usually yellow 

 or purple, or in some species of that pecu- 

 liar greenish-yellow, with a brown tinge I 

 outside, which is usually accompanied by 

 a tendency to exhale a sweet scent at the 

 close of the day Two species, L.fragrans 

 and L. violacea, have been occasionally in- 

 troduced to our gardens. 



LYRATE, LYRESHAPED. Pinnatifid, 

 with the upper lobes much larger than 

 the lower, 



LYROCARPA. A genus of Cruciferce 

 from California, distinguished by its I 

 fiddle-shaped two-lobed pouch. [J. T. S.] 



LYSILOMA. A genus of Leguminosa? I 

 of the tribe Mimosece, formerly combined 

 with Acacia, from which, however, it is ' 

 distinguished by the stamens, which sel- 

 dom exceed thirty in number, being united 

 at the base into a tube unconnected with ■ 

 the corolla, and also by the thin flat pods l 

 having, as in Mimosa, Entada, &c, a thick- 

 ened margin, which remains entire, while 

 the thin inner portion breaks away in the 

 centre, so as to allow of the escape of the 

 seeds. The eight or ten species are inhabi- 

 tants of tropical America, and are either 

 shrubs or large trees, destitute of prickles, 

 and resembling in general appearance the 

 acacias of the same regions, having twice 

 pinnated leaves, and round or cylindrical 

 heads of small flowers. The genus is of j 

 considerable importance in an economic 

 point of view, on account of one of its i 

 species yielding the valuable hard timber j 

 known as Sabieu, Savacu, or Savico wood, 

 the origin of which was long unknown, but 

 which has now been ascertained to be the j 

 produce of a species of this genus to which 

 the name Sabieu has been given. Sabieu 

 timber is imported in considerable quan- 

 tities from Cuba, where only the tree is , 

 known to exist. It is a dark-coloured j 

 wood, very heavy, excessively hard, and | 

 extremely durable, the two latter qualities \ 

 rendering it of great value to the ship- 

 builder, by whom it is much esteemed. 

 On account of its hardness it was selected 

 for the stairs of the building for the Great 

 Exhibition in 1851, and, notwithstanding 

 the immense number of people who passed j 

 up and down, the stairs were found, at the 

 closeof the Exhibition, to be scarcely at all 

 the worse for wear. [A. S.] 



LYSIMACHIA. A genus of herbaceous 

 mostly perennial plants belonging to the 

 Pnmidacece, and allied to Anagallis, from 

 which they are distinguished by having 

 glabrous, not hairy, filaments, and a cap- 

 sule which opens at the summit with five 

 or ten valves. L. nemorum, the commonest 

 British species, approaches in size and 

 habit the scarlet pimpernel, but has 



bright yellow flowers ; from this resem- 

 blance it is often called Wood Pimpernel. 

 L Nummulana, Moneywort or Herb Two- 

 pence, is a trailing plant common on the 

 margins of rivers, the banks of which it 

 often fringes with pendent stems, thickly 

 set with roundish glossy leaves, and large 

 bright yellow flowers. It is often culti- 

 vated in gardens as a decoration to rock- 

 work, especially where water is introduced, 

 or is grown as a window plant and allowed 

 to droop over the sides of the pot. There 

 are many foreign species, most of which 

 bear yellow flowers and affect moist situa- 

 tions. French, Lysimaque; German, Gelbe 

 weiderich. [C. A. J.] 



LYSINEMA. A small genus of Epacrida- 

 cece, natives of New South Wales and South- 

 west Australia, and having a coloured 

 calyx surrounded with bracts of the same 

 texture as the calyx ; a salver-shaped co- 

 rolla, the tube of which is often divisible 

 into five parts, the segments of the limb 

 smooth and inclined to the right ; and the 

 stamens attached below the ovary, and 

 having peltate anthers. They are hand- 

 some shrubs, with white or rose-coloured 

 flowers in sessile axillary spikes ; the 

 leaves smooth and sharp-pointed. [R. H.] 



LYSIONOTUS term-folia is an erect 

 glabrous herb inhabiting Nepal, and the 

 sole representative of a genus of Cyrtan- 

 dracece. The leaves are ovate-lanceolate 

 and arranged in whorls ; the flowers are of 

 a fine rose-colour, and arranged in terminal 

 umbels. The calyx is five-cleft, the corolla 

 bell-shaped, and the stamens five, two of 

 which are fertile. The fruit is capsular, bi- 

 valved, and encloses an indefinite number 

 of seeds. . [B. S.] 



LYSIOSTYLES. A genus of Convolvitr 

 lacece, containing a single species, a native 

 of British Guiana. It is a climbing shrub, 

 with alternate petiolate oblong leaves, 

 and flowers in axillary panicles. The calyx 

 is five-cleft, with imbricated lobes ; the 

 corolla tube short, and the limb rotate and 

 five-parted; there are five stamens; and 

 the ovary is one-celled, with four erect 

 ovules, surmounted by two styles, com- 

 pletely separate, and each with a capi- 

 tate stigma. The genus is nearly re- 

 lated on the one hand to Maripa, on the 

 other to Erycibe, yet abundantly distinct 

 from either. It belongs to the group 

 which Decandolle has raised to the rank 

 of a natural order under the title of Eryci- 

 bece. [W. C] 



LYSIPOMA. The name of a genus of 

 small herbaceous plants of the Lobeliaceai, 

 natives of the Andes. The genus is known 

 by the calyx, which has a five-nerved 

 tube and a five-parted somewhat two- 

 lipped limb ; by the funnel-shaped corolla, 

 with an entire distended tube and two- 

 lipped limb, the upper lip of two, the lower 

 of three divisions; by the five stamens 

 united into a tube, the two lowermost 

 anthers hairy, and by the inferior one- 

 celled ovary. The capsule opens bv a little 

 lid at the top. [M. T. M.] 



