346 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN 



True Lavender. 



light and rather calcareous soil. 



True Lavender {Lavandula vera, D.C, ; L. angustifolia, 

 Moench. ; L. spica a L. ; Labiates). — Native of Southern Europe. — 



Perennial. — A dwarf shrub; 

 not exceeding from 2 to about 

 2\ ft. in height. Stems very 

 numerous, forming compact 

 tufts or clumps ; leaves linear, 

 gray ; flower-stems slender, 

 square, bare, with the excep- 

 tion of one pair of opposite 

 leaves ; flowers violet-blue, in 

 a short terminal spike ; seed 

 brown, shining, oblong, with 

 a well-marked white spot at 

 one end, denoting its point 

 of attachment to the bottom 

 of the calyx. Its germinating 

 power lasts for five years. 



Culture.— The Lavender- 

 plant delights especially in 

 It is generally grown as an 

 edging to beds of other plants, and is propagated by division of 

 the clumps, or from cuttings, rarely from seed. A plantation 

 should be remade every 

 three or four years. 



Common Lavender 

 {Lavandula spica, D.C. ; 

 L. spica 1.. ; L. latifolia, 

 Vill.). — More spreading 

 in habit than the True 

 Lavender and less shrubby, 

 differing from it also by 

 its larger leaves, w^hich 

 standout more horizontally 

 and are slender in com- 

 parison with their size. 

 The flower-stems are less 

 numerous, more vigorous, 

 less erect, and bear more 

 developed branchlets than 

 the True Lavender ; the 

 flowers are also smaller 

 and the fragrance not so 

 delicate, for which reason 

 the perfume distilled from this plant has only half the value of 

 that obtained from the True variety. In Provence the two plants 



Common Lavender. 



