V 
LOB 
The fourth fort grows naturally in North America •, - 
this hath a perennial root, from which arife feveral 
very hairy ftalks about a foot and a half high, gar- 
nifhecl with rough, hairy, veined leaves, which are al- 
moft oval, fitting clofe to the ftalks alternately. The 
flowers grow in ftsort reflexed fpikes at the end of the 
branches : thefe are white, their petals being longer 
than the empalement, ending in acute points. It 
flowers in June, and the feeds ripen in autumn. 
The fifth fort grows naturally in the fouth of France, 
and alfo in the Levant. This hath a perennial root, 
which runs deep in the ground, from which corner 
out in the fpring a fhrubby eredt (talk two or three 
feet high, which is pretty clofely fet with hairs, and 
garnifhed with narrow leaves placed alternately. The 
flowers are produced in Ihort reflexed fpikes at the 
end of the ftalk, Handing in hairy empalements ; 
they are of a redd ifh purple colour, but as they de 
cay change to a deep purple •, they are tubulous, but 
cUt at the top into four or five fegments ; the upper 
two are reflexed. It flowers in June, but the feeds 
rarely ripen in England. 
Thefe plants may be cultivated by fowing their feeds 
in rows foon after they are ripe, in a bed of frefli earth, 
allowing the rows at leaft a foot diftance from each 
other, obferving to keep them clear from weeds, and 
they will thrive in almoft any foil or fituation. 
LOAM is a common fuperficial earth, that is a mix- 
ture of fand and clay, commonly of a yellowilli co- 
lour, though there is fome Loam that is blackifh. 
Some call Loam the moil common fuperficial earth 
met with in England, without any regard to the pro- 
portion it bears to fand or clay ; but moft generally 
the appellation of Loam is applied to a foft fat earth, 
partaking of clay, but eafy to work. 
It is found by experience, that plants of moft forts 
will grow in it •, and wherever it is found, it appears 
to be a more beneficial foil to plants than any other. 
A clay ufed in grafting is alfo called Loam. 
LOBELIA. Plum. Nov. Gen. 2 1. tab. 31. Lin. 
Gen. Plant. 897. 
The Characters are, 
- The empalement of the flower is fmall , of one leaf , in- 
dented in five parts , and grozvs about the germen. The 
flower has but one petal , which is tubulous , and a little 
ringent , cut into five parts at the brim •, two of the up- 
per fegments are fmaller than the other , are more reflexed 
and deeper cut , thefe conftitute the upper lip ; the three 
lower are fpread open , and larger. It hath five awl-floaped 
fiamina the length of the tube , terminated by oblong cy- 
lindrical fummits , divided at their bafe into five parts. It 
has a pointed germen under the petal , fupporting a cylin- 
drical ftyle crowned by an obtufe prickly ftigma. The 
germen afterward becomes an oval flefhy berry with two 
cells , each containing a fingle feed. 
This genus of plants is ranged in the fifth fetftion of 
Linnaeus’s nineteenth clafs, to which he has joined 
the Rapuntium of Tournefort; but although the 
form of theflowers, and the number of their ftamina, 
agree pretty well, yet as the fruit of this is a pulpy 
berry, inclofing but two feeds, and the Rapuntii have 
dry capfules including many fmall feeds, I fhallkeep 
them feparate. 
We know but one Species of this genus, viz. 
Lobelia ( Frutefcens ) frutefcens, foliis ovati-oblongis in- 
tege'rrimis. Flor. Zeyl. 313. Shrubby Lobelia with ob- 
long, oval , entire leaves. Lobelia frutefcens portulaae 
folio. Plum. Nov. Gen. 21. Shrubby Lobelia with a 
Purflane leaf. 
This plant riles with a fucculent ftalk five or fix 
feet high, garnilhed with oval, oblong, fucculent 
leaves, which are placed alternately ; thefe fit clofe 
to the ftalk. The flowers are produced upon long 
foot-ftalks, which come out from the fide of the 
ftalk, and fuftain two or three white flowers of one 
petal, cut into five acute fegments at the brim ; thefe 
are fucceeded by two, oval berries as large as Bullace, 
containing a ftone with two cells, in each of which is 
lodged a fingle feed, 
L O N 
The feeds of this plant were fent to England by Mr. 
Catelby, in the year 1724, who gathered them in the 
Bahama I Hands, where the plants grow in plenty, near 
the ftiore of the fea j and fince that time the feeds 
have been fent to England by Dr. William Houf- 
toun, who gathered them at La Vera Cruz-, fo that 
I believe the plant is common in moft of the warm 
parts of America. 
It is propagated by feeds, which muft be procured 
from the countries of its natural growth, for the plants 
will not produce them in Europe ^ thefe feeds fhould 
be fown in pots filled with light fandy earth, and 
plunged into a hot-bed of tanners bark, where the 
plants will come up in about a month or five weeks, 
provided the bed is warm, and the earth often wa- 
tered. When the plants are up, they fhould be kept 
in a temperate hot-bed, and frequently refrefhed with 
water, but it muft not be given them in large quan- 
tities, for they are very fucculent, and fubjeft to perifh 
with much moifture, efpecially while they are young. 
When the plants are about two inches high, they 
fhould be carefully taken out of the pots in which they 
were fown, and each planted in a feparate fmall pot 
filled with frefh light fandy earth, and then plunged 
into the hot-bed again, obferving to fhade them in the 
heat of the day until they have taken new root. In 
this hot-bed the plants may remain until the middle, 
or latter end of September, when they muft be re- 
moved into the ftove, and plunged into the tan-bed, 
in the warmeft part of the ftove, for they are very ten- 
der plants while young, therefore muft be kept very 
warm, otherwife they will not live through the firft 
winter in this country. In the fpring following the 
plants may be fhifted into fomewhat larger pots, and 
then plunged into a frefh hot-bed to forward their 
growth ; for if they are not pufhed on while they are 
young, they feldom grow to any fize, nor will they 
ever flower ; fo that in order to have them in any 
beauty, they muft be carefully managed. The leaves 
of this plant are very fubjedt to contract filth, by be- 
ing conftantly kept in the ftove, therefore they fhould 
be wafhed with a fponge frequently, to keep them 
clean, otherwife they will appear unfightly. 
LOBUS ECHINATUS. See Guilandina. 
LOCULAMENTS are little diftindt cells, or par- 
titions, within the feed-vefiels of plants. 
LOLIUM. Darnel Grafs. 
Of this fort of Grafs we have two or three fpecies, 
which grow naturally in England ; fome in dry Grafs 
grounds, and one which is an annual Grafs, is fre- 
quently found in arable land ; but as neither of them 
are cultivated for ufe, fo I fliall not trouble the reader 
with any farther account of them. 
LONCHITIS [fo called of A oyyy, a lance or fpear, 
becaufe the leaves are fo fharp-pointed as to refemble 
the point of a fpear.] Rough Spleen wort. 
The Characters are, 
T he leaves are like thofe of the Fern , but the pinnule 
are eared at their bafe \ the fruit alfo is like that of the 
Fern. 
The Species are, 
1. Lonchitis afpera. Ger. Rough Spleenwort. 
2. Lonchitis alpera major. Ger. Emach. Greater rough 
Spleenwort,. 
The firft of thefe plants is very common in fhady 
woods, by the Tides of fmall rivulets, in divers parts 
of England ; but the fecond fort is not quite fo com- 
mon, and has been brought into feveral curious bo- 
tanic gardens from the mountains in Wales. There 
are alfo great variety of thefe plants in America, which 
at prefent are ftrangers in the European gardens ; 
they are feldom cultivated but in botanic gardens 
for the fake of variety, where they muft have a moift 
foil and fhady fituation. 
LONGITUDINAL VESSELS, in plants, are 
fuch as are extended in length through the woody 
parts of trees and plants, into which the air is fuppofed 
to enter, and mix with the juices of the plant, and 
thereby augment its bulk. 
LQNL 
