431 
L E C 
congeners, but almoft ftraight. Native of North Ame¬ 
rica, in Virginia and Canada. 
3. Lechea major, or great lechea : leaves ovate-lanceo¬ 
late; flowers lateral, wandering. Stems purplifh, round, 
with fimple alternate remote branches. Leaves alternate, 
rugged above, tomentofe beneath, with a reflex margin. 
Flowers two, three, or four, from the uppermoft fhoots. 
Clayton'affigns four flamens to the flower, the two upper 
ones approximating. Native of North America, in Virginia 
and Canada. The plant defcribed by Linnxus for Lechea 
major is fuppofed to be Ciftus Canadenfis ; but the plant 
intended by Kahn for Lechea major is very different, as 
may be feen by comparing the fpecimens in the Banklian 
Herbarium. 
3. Lechea racemulofa, or many-cluftered lechea : hairs 
clofe-prefied ; leaves linear-lanceolate, acute, hairy be¬ 
neath ; flowers in numerous {lender clullers ; calyx hairy. 
Gathered by Clayton at Point Comfort, in Virginia. 
4.. Lechea thymifolia, or thyme-leaved lechea: hairs 
clofe-prefied; leaves lanceolate. Stem panicled ; clufters 
leafy ; brafteas linear, much longer than the flowers. 
Gathered by Clayton in Virginia ; by Michaux in dry ex- 
pofed fituations in North and South Carolina. Stem a foot 
high, round, reddifh, rough with clofe-prelfed hairs ; leaves 
oppofite or fcattered, various in fize. 
5. Lechea tenuifolia, or flender-leaved lechea : ftems 
bufhy, decumbent, afcending, with fpreading branches. 
Found on fandy hills near the Santee river, flowering in 
April and May. Michaux defcribes it as of humble and 
bufhy growth, with capfules rather larger, in proportion 
to the plant, than is ufual in this genus. 
6. Lechea verticillata, or whorled lechea : leaves ellip¬ 
tical, ferrated; flowers whorled. Sent by Dr. Rottler 
from Madras. 
7. Lechea Chinenfis, or Chinefe lechea: leaves ovate- 
lanceolate ; ipathes three-flowered, terminating. Stem 
annual, manifold, creeping, fhort. Leaves marked with 
lines, fmooth, with flieathing petioles. Flowers .from a 
large blunt fpathej petals blue, with claws. This plant 
feems at firfl: fight to be related to Commelina and Tra- 
defcantia ; but it has not either villofe filaments like the 
latter, or cruciate neftaries like the former. Native of 
China, near Canton. 
LECR'EMY, or Lakshmi, [from the Sanfkrit lakjli , 
light, fplendour.] The Venus and Ceres of the Hindoos, 
and the confort of Viflinn. See the article Hindoostan, 
vol. x. p. 116. She is reprefented by the poets and paint¬ 
ers as of perfedt beauty. Hindoo females are commonly 
named after her ; and there are few in the long catalogue 
of their deities whofe various names and functions are fo 
frequently alluded to in converfation and writing, either 
on theogony, mythology, poetry, or philofophy. Her te_r- 
reftrial manifeftations have been frequent, and her origin 
various. As Rhemba, the fea-born goddefs, (lie arofe one 
of the fourteen gems from the ocean when churned by 
the good and evil beings for the amrita , or beverage of 
immortality. She then affumes the character of Venus 
Marina, or Aphrodites of the Greeks; who, as Hefiod 
and Homer fing, arofe from the fea, afcended to Olympus* 
and captivated all the gods. The operation of churning 
the ocean is noticed under Kurmavatara ; and the pro¬ 
duction cf Rhemba, Sri, or Lechemy, is thus defcribed in 
the 36th fedtion of the firfl: book of the Ramayana : “ The 
gods, the afuras, and the gandharvas, again agitating the 
fea, after a long time appeared the great goddefs, inha¬ 
biting the lotus; clothed with fuperlativ.e beauty, in the 
fir ft bloom of youth, covered with ornaments, and bear¬ 
ing every aufpicious fign ; adorned with a crown, with 
bracelets on her arms, her jetty locks flow ing in ringlets, 
and her body, which refembled burning gold, adorned 
with ornaments of pearl. Thus was produced the god¬ 
defs Padma, or Sri, adored by the whole univerfe, Padma 
by name. She took up her abode in the bofom of Padma- 
nabha, even of Heri,” that is, of Viflinu, of whom thefe 
are names. Sri, as this deity is frequently called, diftin- 
L E C 
guifhes her more particularly as the goddefs of fortune, 
the word meaning profperity ; but it is not giyen exclu- 
fively to Lechemy. Others of her names are derived from 
the lotus, which is the emblem of female beauty, and ef- 
pecrally applicable to this goddefs. 
In images and pictures of her, which are very common 
in India, Lechemy js generally reprefented as a mere 
woman ; fometimes, however, four-armed ; often holding 
a kamal, or .lotus, in an eafy and eiegant attitude ; and al¬ 
ways very handfome. With her lord Vifhnu flie is fre¬ 
quently feen on the ferpent Sefna ; he repofing, file in re- 
f’pectful attendance, while a lotus fpringing from Viihnu’s 
navel to the furface of the-fea (for this fcenc is fubaque- 
ous) bears, in its expanded calyx, Brahma, the creator of 
the world, about to perform the work of renovation. 
Sometimes fhe is feated with her lord on Garuda, 01 Su- 
perna, cleaving the air, of which Viflinu is a perfonifica- 
tion. In Vifiinu’s molt fplended avatara, or incarnation 
of Kriflina, (lie became manifefted as R.ukmeni, or Radha, 
the moll adored of the amorous deities, and mother of 
Kama, the god of love; here again correfponding with 
our popular Venus, the mother of Cupid. 
Lechemy alio prefides over marriages, and is confidered, 
indeed, among certain fefts of Hindoos, as the general 
fource of all liappinefs. She is found, by mythologlfts, to 
have charafteriftic attributes and powers fimilar to the 
Ceres of the Greeks, (Sri is, in one cafe, Sris, correfpond- 
ing here, likewife, in name,) and the Ills of the Egyp¬ 
tians. On thefe, and other points connected with the 
fubjeflt of this article, fee fir William Jones, and Mr. Cole- 
broke, Aflat. Ref. vol. i. iii. and vii. Many plates of 
her in her various forms, and puranic legends and anec¬ 
dotes, are likewife given in Moor's Hindoo Pantheon. 
LECHENAUL'TI A, f. [named by Mr. R. Brown, in 
compliment to his friend Lechenault, an eminent French- 
botanift and traveller, who has undertaken to illuftrate 
the plants cf the wefiern coaft of New Holland more ef- 
pecially, as well as thofe of Java and Timor.] In botany, 
a genus of the clafs pentandria, order monogynia, natural 
order of campanacete, Linn, (campanulacese, JuJjf. goode- 
noviae, Brown.) Generic efiential characters—Calyx fupe- 
rior ; tube of the corolla flit longitudinally on one fide ; 
anthefse cohering; pollen of compound grains; fligma- 
obfolete, in the bottom of a two-lipped cover y capfule 
prifmatic, of two cells, and four oppofite valves with cen¬ 
tral partitions ; feeds cubical or cylindrical, flielly. Brown's 
Prodr. Nov. Holl. 581. 
Species. I. Small flirubs with heath-like leaves. Flow¬ 
ers axillary or terminal; capfule valvular; feeds cubical, 
1. Lechenaultia formofa : flowers axillary, folitary, droop¬ 
ing, without brafteas; corolla fmooth; two-lipped. Ga¬ 
thered by Mr. Brown on the fouth coaft of New Holland. 
2. Lechenaultia tubiflora : flowers nearly terminal; foli- 
tary, (lightly ftalked ; corolla tubular, curved, with a 
doled limb ; leaves awl-fliaped, with a fmall pellucid point, 
3. Lechenaultia expanfa : corymbs axillary, of few flow¬ 
ers. Stalks with a pair of brafteas each ; corolla with one 
lip, in fringed fegments. Natives of the fame country. 
II. Herbaceous. Flower oppolite to a leaf; capfuleopen- 
ing only when far advanced, its valves cohering by a nar¬ 
row neck ; feeds cylindrical. 4. Lechenaultia filiformis: 
leaves alternate, thread-fhaped, fomewhat comprefled. 
Gathered by Mr. Brown in the tropical part of New Hol¬ 
land. 
LECH'ER, Leacher, or Letcher, /. [derived by 
Skinner from litxure, old French ; luxuria is ufed in the 
middle ages in the fame lenfe.J A whore-rnafter.—I will 
now take the lecher ; he’s at my lioufe; he cannot Ycape- 
me. Shahefpeare. 
You, like a letcker, out of whorifh loins 
Are pleas’d to breed out your inheritors. Shahefpeare . 
The lecher foons transforms his mi ft refs; now 
In Id’s place appears a lovely cow. Dryden > 
To LECH'ER, v, v. To whore.-—Die for adultery ? No> 
The 
