LAG 
$6 
Jit]}'.) The generic characters are—Calyx: pemnthium 
one-leafed, bell-ft>aped, fomewhat cornered, half-five-cleft, 
permanent, (deciduous, Gw.) Corolla: petals five, ovate- 
oblong, obtnfe, fpreading, affixed to the bale of the tube 
of the ftamens.' Stamina : filaments feveral (25-30), con¬ 
joined into a tube below, in the top and fides of the tube 
receding from it and free ; anther.» roundifh. Pi ft ill urn : 
germ ovate-oblong; ftyle thread-lhaped, longer than the 
itamens,.five-cleft at the tip; divilions fpreading, (or un¬ 
divided ;‘) ftigntas headed. Pericarpium : cap.fule ovate- 
oblong, fomewhat five-cornered, five-celled, five-valved ; 
partitions contrary. Seeds: fome, roundifii.-three-fided.— 
EJJcntial Chamber. Calyx fimple, five-cufped ; ffyle fim- 
■ple ; ftigtna peltated ; capfule five-celled, five-valved. 
Species, 1. Lagunaea aculeata, or'prickly lagunsea,: Item 
prickly-tomentole ; leaves deeply many-parted ; flowers 
axillary, folitary. Stem round, toir.entofe, armed with 
Email upright prickles, fomewhat branched, a foot and a half 
high. Leaves .alternate, fhorter than the petioles, very 
deeply divided into three or more ferrate-toothed fegments, 
the middle one more lengthened than the others, teeming 
to be curled. Flowers on fliort peduncles ; corolla yellow, 
twice as long as the calyx, fpreading; ftigtna red, peltate, 
fcarcely Handing out. Seeds kidney-form, black... Native 
of Coromandel near Pondicherry, where it is called cat - 
tacackeree by the inhabitants. 
2. Lagunaea folandra, or maple-leaved laguntea : leaves 
fubcordate, three-cui’ped, ferrate; flowers corym.bed. This 
plant is about two feet high, and hirfute. Stem upright, 
round,ftifF, the thicknefs of agoofe-quill,hirfute, with hori- 
.zontal hairs, where the branches fpring knobbed. Branches 
many, from top to bottom, alternate, fpreading, fubflex- 
nofe, red towards the bafe on the infide,; the lower,about 
a hand in length, and more remote, the upper about a 
a foot, and nearer, the internodes being fcarcely an inch 
long. Flowers corymb-racemed at the ends of the Item 
and branches; corolla purplilh-white. This fpecies, ac¬ 
cording to Monf. l’Heritier, has the habit of Napaea, 
and the root is annual. He joins it with Hibifcus becaufe 
it agrees in all points with that genus, efpecially in the 
pericarpium ; and the fimplicity of the calyx is not of itfelf 
fufficient to make it of a diftinCt genus. See his defcrip- 
tion, See. under Hibiscus folandra, vol. ix. p. 839. 
Murray on the contrary makes it a Solandra ; and Cava- 
nilles has deferibed it under the name of Triguera, from 
Trigueros, a Spanifii botanift. It was found in the Ifie 
of Bourbon by Commerfon ; introduced into the Paris 
garden about the year 1774-, and into Kew garden in 1780 
by Mr. Zier. 
3. Lagunaea ternata, or three-leaved lagunaea: ftem her¬ 
baceous, villofe ; lower leaves ternate, with the middle 
leaflet very long ; upper leaves fubhaftate 5 flowers axillary, 
folitary. Root round, not very fibrous. Stems branched 
at bottom, herbaceous, a foot high, villofe, as is the whole 
plant. Native of Senegal, where it was found by Adanfon. 
Propagation and Culture. The fame with thofe fpecies of 
Hibifcus which come from hot countries. The fecond 
fort ripens the feeds in England, and may be increaled 
by them. 
LAGUNIL'LA, a town of South America, in the vice¬ 
royalty of New Grenada : fourteen miles fouth-weft: of 
Merida. 
LAGUNIL'LA, a town of South America, in the pro¬ 
vince of Cordova : thirty miles eaft of Cordova. 
LAGUNIL'LAS, a town of Peru, in the diocefe of La 
Paz : thirty-nine miles north of Potofl. 
LAGUPT, a river of Pruffian Lithuania, which runs 
into the Piffa four miles fouth of Stulluponen. 
LAGU'RUS, f. [from Xa.yus, a hare, and 01 a tail.] 
Hare’s-tail Grass; in botany, a genus of the clafs tri— 
andria, order digynia, natural order of gramina,, graminese, 
or grades. The generic characters are—Calyx : glume 
one-flowered, bivalve; valves long, linear, fpreading, very 
ihin 3 each ending in a villofe awn. Corolla: bivalve, 
' L A H 
thicker than the calyx; valve exterior, longer, terminated 
by two fmall upright awns; a third awn from the middle 
of the back of the fame valve, reflex-twilled ; valve inte¬ 
rior, fmall, fharp. Nectary two-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, 
obtnfe, gibbofe at the bafe. Stamina : filaments three, 
capillary; anthers oblong. Pift.il him: germ tbp-fnaped j 
ftyles two, fetaceous, villofe; ftigmas Ample. Peficarpi- 
um : none; corolla grows to the feed. Seed : folitary, ob¬ 
long, covered, awned.— EJfential Character. Calyx two- 
valyed, with a villofe awn ; corolla having on the outer 
petal two terminating awns, and a third ddrfal one twilled 
back. 
Lagurus ovatus, a fingle fpecies. It is an annual grafs, 
growing to the height of a foot or eighteen inches, and 
even more, very foft and hoary, as are alfo the leaves and 
fpikes. Thefe. are about tvvo inches long, and almoli: 
round, befet with foft hairs of a pale ftravv-colour. The 
corolla, when ripe, is more rigid than the calyx, and pro¬ 
tects the feed ; which is ovate, acuminate at both ends, 
on one fide convex and fmooth, on the other concave, 
with a raifed ftreak in the middle, bay-coloured. Native 
of the South of Europe, France, Italy, Sicily, Portugal. 
Ray obfer.ved it in Narbonne, Italy about Baise, and Si¬ 
cily, in fandy grounds, lower and fmallerthan is delcribed 
above. It was cultivated here in 1640, according to Par- 
kin'fon. See Andropogon. 
LAGU'RUS CYLIN'DRICUS. See Saccharum se- 
RICEUM. 
LA'GUS, a Macedonian of mean extraction. He re¬ 
ceived in marriage Arfinoe the daughter of Meleager, who 
was then pregnant by king Philip ; and, being willing to 
hide the difgrace of his wife, he expofed the child in the 
woods. An eagle preferved the life of the infant, fed 
him with her prey, and fheltered him with her wings againlt 
the inclemency of the air. This uncommon prefervation 
was divulged to Lagus, who adopted the child as his own, 
and called him Ptolemy, conjecturing that, as his life had 
been fo miraculoufly preferved, his'days would be fpent 
in grandeur and affluence. This Ptolemy became king of 
Egypt after the death of Alexander; and is called Lagus, to 
diltinguifti him from his fucceflbrs of the fame name. See 
the article Egypt, vol. vi. p. 298. He wiflied it to be 
believed that he was the legitimate fon of Lagus ; and the 
furname of Lagides was tranfmitted to all his descendants 
on the Egyptian throne till the reign of Cleopatra, An¬ 
tony’s miftrefs. Plutarch mentions an anecdote, which 
ferves to fliow how far the legitimacy of Ptolemy was be¬ 
lieved in his age. A pedantic grammarian, fays the hif- 
torian, once difplaying his great knowledge of antiquity in 
the prefence of Ptolemy, the king fuddenly interrupted 
him with the queftion of, “Pray tell me, fir, who was the 
father of Peleus?” “Tell me,” replied the grammarian 
without liefitation, “who was the father of Lagus ?” This 
reflection on the meannefs of the monarch’s birth did not 
in the leaft irritate his refentment, though the courtiers 
all .glowed with indignation. Ptolemy praifed the hu¬ 
mour of the grammarian, and ftiowed his moderation and 
the mildnefs of his temper by taking him under his pa¬ 
tronage. 
LAGUY'O, a town of Africa, in the country of Fantin. 
LA'HA-RO'I, [Hebrew.] The name of a well. Gen . 
xxiv. 62. 
LAHA'AR, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of Go- 
hud : feventy-five miles fouth-fouth-eaft of Agra, and 
forty eaft of Gwalior. Lat. 26. 9. N. Ion. 79. 35. E. 
LA'KAD, [Hebrew.] A man’s name. 
LAHAD'SI, a town of Arabia, in the province of Ye¬ 
men : fixteen miles north-weft of Aden. 
LAHALL', a town of Sw-eden, in Weft Gothland: ten 
miles north of Gothenburg. 
LAHAR'PE (John Francis). See Harpe, vol. ix. p, 
231. 
LAHAS'SA. See Lass a. 
LAHAWAN'OCK CREEK, a river of Perinfylvanin, 
