443 
LEE 
LEER, Lehr, or Lier, a town of Eaft Frieftand, on 
a river of the fame name, which loon after joins the Ems : 
eleven miles fouth-eaft of Emden, and twenty-four weft- 
north-weft of Oldenburg. Lat. 53. 12. N. Ion. 7. 20. E. 
LEER ORT. See Oar. 
LEER'DAM, a town of Holland, on the river Linghe, 
which gave title of count to the noble houfe of Egmont, 
and afterwards to that of Naffau. In the year 1574 it 
was taken by the Spaniards, who deflroyed the ramparts: 
eleven miles fouth of Utrecht, and twenty-fix fouth of 
Amlterdam. Lat. 51. 55. N. Ion. 4. 59. E. 
LEER'ING,/. The adt of looking obliquely, or with 
a forced countenance. 
LEERS, or Liers, a town of France, in the depart¬ 
ment of the Ourthe, where a battle was fought on the 1 it 
of October, 1746, between the allies commanded by prince 
Charles of Lorrain, and the French under the command 
of comte Saxe, in which the latter were victorious : four 
miles north of Liege. 
LEER'SIA,/. [fo named by Dr. Swartz, to honour 
the memory of John Daniel Leers, an apothecary at Her- 
born in Naflau, author of the Flora Herborneniis, pub- 
liffied in 1775. This little odtavo volume, now very rare, 
contains fixteen plates, in which all the graffes* are en¬ 
graved by the hand of the author, with Inch exqnifite 
and minute preciiion, that they will bear infpedtion with 
a magnifier, almoft like the plants themfelves ; and are 
unrivalled in natural hiftory. A life of the author by his 
fon is prefixed to this book, by which we learn that he died 
December 7, 1774, aged 47.] In botany, a genus of the 
clals triandria, order digynia, natural order or gramina, or 
grades. The generic charadtersare—Calyx: none. Corolla: 
glume bivalve, valves navicular, concave, comprefled, ci- 
liate-prickly on the back, nearly equal; the exterior 
larger, oblong, mucronated ; the interior twice as nar¬ 
row, linear, acute. (In the Emendations, p. 818, the 
corolia isdefcribed thus; viz. glume bivalve, one-flowered, 
fhut.) NeCtary two-leaved ; leaflets lanceolate, acute. 
Stamina: filaments three, capillary, (hot ter than in the 
corolla; antheras oblong. Piftillum: germ ovate, com¬ 
prefled; ftyles two, capillary, fhort; ltigmas feathered. 
Pericarpium none; the corolla includes the feed. Seed 
Angle, obovate, comprefled. The number of ftamens va¬ 
ries, from one to fix. Swartz.—EJJential Ghara8.tr. Calyx 
none; glume two-valved, clofed. 
Species. 1. Leerfia monandra, or one-flamened leerfia : 
panicle fpreading; fpikes remote, loole; fpikelets directed 
all one way ; roundifh, one-ftamened ; glumes even. 2, 
Leerfia hexandra, or fix-ftamened leerfia: panicle fpread¬ 
ing; fpikelets alternate, fix-ftamened; glumes almoft 
even. Native of Jamaica. 
3. Leerfia oryzoides, or three-ftamened leerfia : panicle 
fpreading, fpikelets three-ftamened, keel of the glumes 
ciiiate. A tall grafs, two feet high, or more, with rough 
leaves: it grows in the marfhesof Virginia in North Ame¬ 
rica, where it is called cut-grafs and fickle-grafs, and is 
probably a mulcicapa, or fly-catcher. It occurs alfo in 
Swifierland, the Palatinate, and Perfia; and was introduced 
into Italy along with rice, whence the name oryzoides. 
4. Leerfia Virginica, or Virginian leerfia : thrsxe-fta- 
mened; panicle loofe ; flowers moftly ereCt, clofe-prelTed ; 
their glumes fringed at the keel. Found in Kentucky, 
Pennfylvania, and Carolina ; Michaux. In marfhes in Vir¬ 
ginia, amongft Smilaces and Rubi, flowering in Auguft; 
Clayton. Michaux thinks this is not fpecifically diitinct 
from the former; but Willdenow, who obferved them 
both in a garden, fays that, “ though much alike, tiny 
are conftantly different. The prexent has fhorter and 
broader leaves ; a fhorter panicle, whole branches are not 
zigzag, but ftraight, and whofe flowers are clofely prefled 
to the (talks. The glumes are fmaller, narrower, fparingly 
fringed. The panicle of this is never covered by a leaf, 
but always expofed and fpreading.” 
5. Leerfia lenticularis, or lenticular leerfia. This grafs 
was firit noticed by Michaux ; (Flora Boreali Americana, 
L ' E E 
i. 39.) It is a native of the marfliy grounds of the Illi¬ 
nois country, of Virginia, North Carolina, &c. The 
glume, or corolla, is of an orbicular form, inclining to 
lenticular, and is much larger than in any of the other 
American lpecies, or than it is in the Leerfia oryzoides of 
Europe and America. The edges of the valves are 
very diftinctly ciliated, or furnifhed with a number of 
fine teeth or delicate fpinules. It is this ciiiate ft ruff u re 
that enables the plant to perform the bufmefs of a mufci- 
capa, or fly-catcher. When a fmall infedf, fuch as a fpi- 
der, or a minute fly, infinuates itfelf between the valves 
(probably in purluit of a honeyed fluid), the valves clofe 
upon it, the fpinules enfolding each other, thus retaining 
the infedt, which as feldom efcapes as the infedt that has 
been caught by the valvular ftrudture at the ends of the 
leaves of Diontea mufcipula, or Venus’s fly-trap, which 
fee defcribed vol. v. p. 838. Dej'ultory Obfervations con¬ 
cerning Vegetable Mu/cicapre, by Profefl'or Barton of Phila¬ 
delphia; 1811. 
6. Leerfia Auftralis, or New-Holland leerfia: panicle 
loofe, with alternate branches; the lower ones divided; 
flowers fix-ftamened ; their glumes fringed at the keel, 
finely toothed at their ribs ; linooth at the iides. Gathered 
by Mr. R. Brown at Port Jacklon, as well as in the troc 
pical part of New Holland. He thinks it fo near L. hex¬ 
andra, as to be doubtful of their being diftindt. 
LEER'STRAND, a town of Norway : eight miles 
fouth-weft of Drontheim. 
LEES, f. [lie, Fr. from limus, Lat. mud.] Dregs; fedi- 
ment: it has feldom a Angular.—The memory of king 
Richard was fo ftrong, that it lay like lees at the bottom 
of .men’s hearts ; and, if the veil'd was but ftirred, it would 
come up. Bacon's Henry VII. 
If they love lees, and leave the lufty wine. 
Envy them not their palates with the fwine. B. Johnfon. 
LEES'BURG, a town of Virginia, on the Potomack t 
twenty-four miles north-weft of Wafhington, and twenty- 
three ealt of Winchelfer. Lat. 39. 10. N. Ion. 77. 33. W, 
To LEESE, v. a. [ lefen , Dut.J To lofe: an old words 
No caufe, nor client fat, will Chev’ril leefe, 
But as they come on both Tides he takes fees; 
And plealeth both ; for, while he melts his greafe 
For this, that wins for whom he Holds his peace. Johnfon. 
LEES'NITZ, or Leg'nica, a town of Silefia, in the 
principality of Oppein : thirteen miles eaft-north-eaft of 
Ober Glogau, and eighteen fouth-fouth-eaft of Oppein. 
LEES'TOWN, a town of the ftate of Kentucky, on. 
the Kentucky river :'twenty miles weft of Lexington. 
LEET, yi See Court-Leet, vol. v. p. 301.— Leete, or 
leta, is otherwile called a law-day. The word feemeth to 
have grown from the Saxon leSe, which was a court of 
jurifdidtion above the wapentake or hundred, compre¬ 
hending three or four of them, oflierwife called thirlhing, 
and contained the third part of a province or (Hire; thele 
jurifdiftions, one and other, be now abolilhed, and (wal¬ 
lowed up in the county-court. Cowel. 
Who has a bread fo pure, 
But fome uncleanly apprehenlions 
Keep lects and law-days, and in leflions fit 
With meditations lawful ? Shake/peart's Othello. 
LEETAKOO', a confiderable town in fouthern Africa,. 
A river runs through the midft of it, which from the ex¬ 
tent of the channel mull be fometimes of confiderable 
magnitude. This town, which was difcovered by a mil¬ 
lion from the Cape of Good Hope in 1801 and 1802, is 
computed to be of as great extent as Cape Town; but 
the exadt number of the houfes, lays Mr. Barrow, could 
not be afcertained, owing to the irregularity of the ftreets 
and the lownefs of the buildings. It contains, according 
to fome, about 10,000 inhabitants of all defcriptions a . 
while others make them amount to nearly 15,000^ The 
ground-plan of every houfe is a complete circle, from 
twelve to fifteen feet diameter; the floor confilts of hard 
s beaten 
