L A R 
vided leaves. Rhagadiolus alter. Csefalp. 511. Another 
Rhavcdiolus. 
3, Lapsana. ( Larnpfanafoliis ) calycibus fruftiis undique 
patentibus, radiis fubulatis, foliis lyratis. Hort. XJpfal. 
245. Nipplewort with empalements to the fruit fpreadintg 
open every way , awl-fhaped rays , and iMrpfoaped leaves . 
Rhagadiolus Lamplanae foliis. Tourn. Cor. 36. Rha- 
gadiolus with a Nipplewort leaf. 
4. Lapsana ( Zacintha ) calycibus fru&us torulofis de- 
prefiis o'btufis leffilibus. Lin. Sp. Plant. 81 1. Nipple- 
wort with a deprefjed knotted empalement which is obtufe , 
and Jits clofe to the branches. Zacintha five cichonum 
verrucarium. Tourn. Inft. 476. Zacintha , or war ted 
Cichory. 
The firft fort is a common weed', which grows by the 
fide of foot-paths and hedges in moft parts of Eng- 
land, fo is not permitted to have room in gardens. 
The fecond and third forts grow naturally in Portu- 
gal, from whence I have received their feeds. Thefe 
are annual plants, of no beauty or ufe, but are pre- 
ferred in botanic gardens for the fake of variety. If 
the feeds of thefe are permitted to lcat ter, the plants 
will come up without trouble, and two or three of 
them will be enough to leave to keep the forts. 
The fourth fort grows naturally in Italy ; this is alio 
an annual plant, of neither ufe or beauty, but is like 
the others kept for variety. If the feeds of this fort 
feat ter in the autumn, the plants will come up better 
than if fown in the fpring. The plants require no 
culture, but will thrive like weeds. 
LARIX. Tourn. Inft. R. PI. 586. tab. 353. Pinus. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 956. The Larch-tree; in French, 
Melefe. 
The Characters are. 
It hath male and female flowers growing feparate on the 
fame tree, it he male flowers are difpofed in a fcaly katkin ; 
thefe have no petal , but a great number of fiamina which 
are connected in a column below , but are feparated at their 
‘ points , and are terminated by crept fummits. The female 
flowers are diflpofed in a conical Jhape , having no petals •, 
thefe are placed by pairs under each fcale , having a fmall 
germen , fupporting an awl-fhaped ftyle , crowned by a Jingle 
jiigma. The germen afterward becomes a nut with a mem- 
braneous wing , inclofed in the feales of the cones. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the ninth fedlion of 
Linnaeus’s twenty-firft clals, intitled Moncecia Mo- 
nodelphia, the fame tree having male and female 
flowers in different parts, and the ftamina of the male 
flowers are united in one clufter. Dr. Linnaeus has 
joined this genus, and the Abies of Tournefort, to the 
genus of Pinus, which, according to his fyftem, may 
very well be brought together ; but as Tournefort and 
all former botanifts have feparated them by the form 
of their leaves, thofe of the Abies coming- out Angle 
from the branches, thofe of the Pine coming out by 
two, three, or five out of each (heath, and thofe of 
this genus arifing in clufters in the bottom, but are 
fpread above like a painter’s pencil; fo thefe diftindtions 
being pretty generally known by gardeners, I have 
chofen to continue them under their former feparate 
titles to prevent confufion. 
The Species are, 
1. Larix ( Decidua ) foliis deciduis, conis ovatis obtufis. 
Larch-tree with deciduous leaves , and oval obtufe cones. 
Larix folio deciduo, conifera. J. B. 1. p. 265. Com- 
mon Cone-bearing Larch-tree. 
2. Larix ( Chinenfis ) foliis deciduis, conis mucronatis 
fquamis acutis. Larch-tree with deciduous leaves , and. 
pointed cones having acute feales. 
3. Larix ( Cedrus ) foliis acutis perennantibus, conis ob- 
tufis. Larch-tree with acute evergreen leaves and obtufe 
cones. Cedrus conifera, foliis laricis. C. B. P. 490. 
Cone-bearing Cedar with a Larch-tree leaf , or the Cedar of 
Lebanus. 
The firft fort grows naturally upon the Alps and 
Apennines, and of late years has been very much 
propagated in England. This tree is of quick growth, 
and will rife to the height of fifty feet ; the branches 
are (lender, and their ends generally hang downward. 
Thefe are garnifhed with long narrow leaves, which 
L A II 
arife in clufters from one point, and fpread open above 
like the hairs of a painter’s brufh ; they are of a light 
green, and fall away in autumn like other deciduous 
trees. In the month of April the male flowers ap- 
pear, which are difpofed in form of fmall cones ; the 
female flowers are collected into oval obtufe cones, 
which in fome fpecies have bright purple tops, and in 
others they are white : thefe differences are acciden- 
tal, for I have found the feeds taken from either of 
thefe varieties, will produce plants of both forts ; the 
cones are about one inch long, obtufe at their points, 
and the feales lie over each other, and are fmooth ; 
under each fcale there is generally lodged two feeds 
which have wings. 
There are two other varieties of this tree, one of which 
' is a native of America, and the other of Siberia ; the 
latter requires a colder climate than England, for they, 
are very apt to die in fummer here, efpecially if they 
are planted on a dry foil. The cones of this fort which 
have been brought to England, feem to be in general 
larper than thofe of the common kind ; but there is 
1b little difference between the trees in their charac- 
teriftic notes, as not to be diftinguifhed as different 
fpecies, though by the growth of the trees there is a 
remarkable difference. 
The cones of the fecond fort were fentffrom China, 
to the Right Hon. the Earl of Northumberland, who 
was fo good as to communicate fome of the feeds to 
me, which were fown in the Chelfea garden. where 
they fucceeded, as they alfo did in his Lordfbip’s 
garden at Stanwick. The cones of this fort were 
much larger than thofe of the common fort, and ended 
in acute points ; the feales were prominent like thole 
of the Scotch Fine, and had fo little refemblance to 
thole of the Larch, as that every one who faw them, 
imagined they were a fort of Find ; they were titled, 
Fir good to keep up banks. As thefe plants make 
but little progreis the firft year, fo they wer e weak, 
and in the autumn calling off their leaves, they 
were luppofed to be dead, and moft of the plants 
were thereby loft ; but thofe which efcaped, after- 
ward fhot their brandies out horizontally, fpreading 
clofe to the ground, and by their prelent appearance, 
feem to be a fhrub which never will rife upright. This 
fort is fo hardy, as to thrive in the open air without 
any protedlion. 
The common Larch is now very plenty in moft of the 
nurferies in England, and of late years there has been 
great numbers of the trees planted ; but thofe which 
have been planted in the worft foil and in bad fttua- 
tions, have thriven the belt ; for where trees of equal 
fize have been planted in good garden earth at the 
fame time, the others on the cold ftiff land, have 
in twelve years been twice the height of thofe planted 
in good ground ; which is an encouragement to plant 
thefe trees, fince they will thrive in the moft expofed 
fltuations, provided they are planted in clumps near 
each other, and not Angle trees ; nor fhould the plants 
which are planted in very open expofed places be 
taken from warm nurferies, but rather raifed as near 
to the fpot where they are to remain as poffible ; nor 
fhould the plants be more than three or four years 
growth when planted, where they are defigned to grow 
large ; for though trees of greater fize will remoye 
very well, and grow feveral years as well as if they ftf 
had not been tranfplanted ; yet after twenty or thirty 
years growth they will frequently fail, where the young 
planted trees have continued very vigorous. 
Thefe trees are raifed from feeds, which moft years 
ripen well in England : the cones fhould be gathered 
about the end of November, and kept in a dry place 
till the fpring, when they fhould be fpread on a cloth 
and expofed to the fun/ or laid before a fire, which 
will caufe the feales of the cones to open and emit 
their feeds. Thefe feeds fhould be fown on a border 
expofed to the eaft, where the morning fun only comes 
on it ; or if they are fown on a bed more expofed to 
the fun, they fhould be fereened with mats from the 
fun in the middle of the day ; for when the plants firft 
appear above ground, they are very impatient of heat ; 
