LEP 
The firft fort is a native of Ethiopia, but has been 
long cultivated in the Englifh gardens. This rifes with 
a fhrubby ftalk feven or eight feet high, fending out 
feveral branches from the fide, which are four-corner- 
ed ; thefe are garnifned with oblong narrow leaves, 
acutely indented on their edges •, they are about three 
inches long, and half an inch broad, hairy on their 
upper fide, and veined on their under, {landing op- 
posite. The flowers are produced in whorls round 
the branches, each of the branches having two or 
three of thefe whorls toward their ends, fitting very 
clofe to the branches ; they are of the lip kind, fhaped 
fomewhat like thofe of the Dead Nettle, but their crefts 
are much longer and covered with fhort hairs ; they 
are of a golden colour, fo make a fine appearance. 
The flowers commonly appear in Oftober and No- 
vember, and fometimes continue till the middle of 
December, but are not fucceeded by feeds here. 
There is a variety of this fort with variegated leaves, 
which is by fome admired ^ but as this feldom pro- 
duces fo large whorls of flowers as the plain fort, it is 
not fo generally efteemed. 
The fecond fort is mentioned by feveral authors as 
an annual plant they alfo fuppofe it to be a native 
of America, and believe it was brought from Surinam 
to Holland *, but it is undoubtedly a native of the Cape 
of Good Hope, from whence I have two or three 
times received the feeds •, and the late Dr. Boer- 
haave allured me, that he frequently, received the 
feeds from that country, as alfo a painting of the 
plant, fo that he made no doubt of the plant grow- 
ing naturally there. 
This rifes with a fquare fhrubby ftalk about three 
feet high, fending out feveral four-cornered branches, 
which are garnifhed with oval crenated leaves, rough 
on their upper fide like the Dead Nettle, but veined on 
the under, which is of a pale green : thefe are placed 
oppofite ,by pairs, as are alfo their branches. The 
flowers come out in whorls round the branches, in 
like manner as the former, but are not fo long nor fo 
deep coloured ; they appear at the fame feafon with 
the firft, and continue as long in beauty. 
Both thefe forts are propagated by cuttings in Europe, 
for they do not produce any feeds here. If the cut- 
tings are planted in July, after the plants have been 
fo long expofed to the open air as to harden the {hoots, 
they will take root very freely. They fhould be 
planted in a loamy border to an eaft afpedt, and if 
they are covered clofely with a bell or hand-glafs to 
exclude the air, and fhaded from the fun, it will for- 
ward their putting out roots •, but When they begin to 
Ihoot, the glafies fhould be raifed to admit the free 
air, to prevent their drawing up weak, and by de- 
grees they mu ft be expofed to the open air. As foon 
as they have taken good root they muft be taken up, 
and each planted in a feparate pot filled with foft 
loamy earth, and placed in the {hade till they have 
taken new root ; then they may be removed to a 
fheltered fituation, where they may remain till Ofto- 
ber, when they muft be removed into the green-houfe, 
and afterward treated as the Myrtle, and other hardy 
green-houfe plants, obferving to water the firft fort 
plentifully. 
LEPIDIUM. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 215. tab. 103. 
Lin. Gen. Plant. 718. Dittander, or Pepperwort. 
The Characters are. 
The emp alement of the flower is compofed of four oval 
concave leaves , which fall off. The flower has four oval 
petals placed in form of a crofs , which are much larger 
than the emp alement , and fix awl-jhaped fiamina the 
length of the empalement , two of which are fforter than 
the other , terminated by fingle Jummits. In the center is 
fituated a heart-jhaped germen , fupporting a fingle fiyle , 
crowned by an obtufeftigma. The germen afterward turns 
to a fpear-Jhaped feed-veffel with tzvo cells , divided by an 
intermediate partition, containing oblong feeds. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the firft feflion of 
Linnaeus’s fifteenth clafs, intitled Tetradynamia fili- 
culofa, the flower having four long and two fhorter 
fiamina, and the feeds being included in fhort pods. 
LEP 
The Species are, 
1. Lepidium ( Latifolhm ) folds ovato-lanceolatis inte- 
gris ferratis. Hort, Clift". 330. Dittander with entire , 
oval , fpear-Jhaped leaves , which are Jawed. Lepidium 
latifolium. C. B. P. 97. Broad-leaved Dittander. 
2. Lepidium {Arvenfe) folds lanceolatis .amplexicauli- 
bus dentatis. Hort. Cliff. 331. Dittander with fpear- 
Jhaped indented leaves which embrace the fialks . Le- 
pidium bundle, incanum arvenfe. Tourn. Inft. R. H. 
216. Low hoary Dittander of the fields. 
3. Lepidium ( Chalepenfe ) folds fagittatis fefillibus den- 
tatis. Amoen. Acad. 4. p. 321. Dittander with arrow- 
ffaped indented leaves fitting clofe to the fialks . . Lepidium 
humile minus incanum, Alepicum. Tourn. Inft. 216. 
Low Dittander of Aleppo with lefs hoary leaves. 
4. Lepidium ( Iberis ) floribus diandris tetrapetalis, fo- 
lds inferioribus lanceolatis ferratis, fuperioribus Iine- 
aribus integerrimis. Flor. Leyd. Prod. 334. Diltan- 
der with flowers having four petals and two fiamina , 
whofe under leaves are fpear-floaped and flawed , and 
the upper narrow and entire. Lepidium gramineo fo- 
lio five, Iberis. Tourn. Inft. 216. Dittander with a 
Grafs leaf , , or Iberis. 
5. Lepidium ( Perfoliatum ) folds caulinis pinnato-mul- 
, tifidis, ramiferis cordatis, amplexicaulibus integris. 
Hort. Cliff. 331. Dittander with lower leaves wing- 
pointed, and thofe on the branches heart -ft. hap id, entire, 
and embracing the fialks. Tblafpi verum Diofcori- 
dis. 1 Zan. Hift. 193. The true Mithridate Muftard of 
Diofcorides. 
6 . Lepidium ( Virginicum ) floribus fubtriandris tetrape- 
talis, foliis linearibus pinnatis. Lin. Gen. Plant. 645. 
Dittander with flowers having four petals, chiefly with 
three fiamina , and very narrow winged leaves. Iberis 
humidor annua Virginiana ramofior. Mor. Hift. 2. 
p. 3 1 1. Lower,' annual, branching Sciatica Crefs of 
Virginia. 
7. Lepidium ( Lyratum ) foliis lyratis crifpis. Lin. Sp. 
Plant. 644. Dittander with curled lyre-fbaped leaves . 
Lepidium Orientale nafturtii crifpi folio. Tourn. Cor. 
1 5. Eaflern Dittander with a leaf like curled Crefs. 
8. Lepidium ( Nudicaule ) fcapo nudo fimplicifiimo, flo- 
ribus tetrandris. Lcefl. It. 155. Dittander with a fingle 
naked ftalk , and flowers with four fiamina. Naftur- 
tium minimum vernum, foliis tantum circa radicem. 
Magn. Montp. 187. 
9. Lepidium ( Petraum ) foliis pinnatis integerrimis, pe- 
talis emarginatis calyce minoribus. Flor. Suec. Dit- 
tander with entire winged leaves, and indented petals to 
the flowers which are fmaller than the empalement . Na- 
fturtium pumilum vernum. C. B. P. 105. 
10. Lepidium ( Sativum ) floribus tetradynamis, foliis 
oblongis multifidis. Vir. Cliff. 63. Dittander with fix 
fiamina in the flowers, and oblong leaves with many 
points. Nafturtium hortenfe. Garden Crefs. 
11. Lepidium ( Subulatum ) foliis fubulatis indivifis fpar- 
fis, caule fuffruticofo. Lin. Sp. 899. Dittander with 
awl-fhaped undivided leaves, and a fhrubby ftalk. Le- 
pidium capillaceo folio, fruticofum Rifpanicum. 
Tourn. Inft. 216. 
12. Lepidium {Ruder ale) floribus diandris apetalis, fo- 
liis radicalibus dentato-pinnatis, ramiferis linearibus 
integerrimis. Flor. Suec. 534. Dittander with two fia- 
mina in the flowers , fugacious petals, the bottom leaves 
indented, and thofe on the branches linear and entire. 
Nafturtium fylveftre Ofyridis folio. C. B. P. 105. 
13. Lepidium ( Bonarienfe ) floribus diandris tetrapetalis, 
foliis omnibus pinnato-multifidis. Lin. Sp. 901. Dit- 
tander with two fiamina and four petals to the flowers, 
and all the leaves wing-pointed. Thlafpi Bonarienfe 
multiciflum flore invifibili. Hort. Ekh. 286. 
The firft fort grows naturally in moift places in many 
parts of England, fo is now feldom cultivated in gar- 
dens. It hath fmall, white, creeping roots, by which 
it multiplies very faft, fo as to render it difficult to 
eradicate the plant, after it has grown long in any 
place •, the lower leaves are oval, fpear-fhaped, about 
three inches long, and one and a half broad toward 
the bafe, fawed upon the edges, having long fcot- 
ftalks. The ftalks rife two feet high, they are ftnooth. 
