506 L E P L E P 
leaves lanceolate-linear, (lender, quite entire ; Hem fuf- 
fruticofe. It-differs from the preceding in being two feet 
high, with flat leaves. Native of Spain. 
16. Lepidium didymum, or procumbent pepperwort: 
flowers two-ftamened ; leaves pinnatifid ; fruits twin. 
Root annual, fmali, fibrous. Stems procumbent, hairy, 
alternately branched, leafy. Linnaeus fays they are a 
foot long, and even. Leaves alternate, Ifnooth, pinnatifid ; 
the lobes notched, efpecially on the fore fide. Flowers 
very fmali, with two or four (tamens, fcarcely more. 
Silicle very diftinctly two-Jobed, rugged, very much re- 
fembling that of Cochlearia coronopus, to which this plant 
is very nearly related as to generic character; and indeed 
Linnaeus fays, it is an intermediate fpecies between the 
two genera. This plant efcaped Ray and Dillenius. 
Hudfon mentions it as a native of Devonfhire and Corn¬ 
wall, among rnbbith ; about Exeter, Truro, and Penryn ; 
at Dale, near the entrance of Milford Haven. It flowers in 
July. _ _ ■ 
17. Lepidium ruderale, or narrow-leaved pepperwort: 
flowers two-fiamened, apetalous; root-leaves tooth-pin¬ 
nate, branch-leaves linear, quite entire. Root long, fibrous. 
Stem a foot high, ufually crooked,woody, ftiff, branched. 
Leaves deftly, l'mooth ; peduncles flender. Flowers white, 
very fmali, in cluttered fpikes or racemes; calyxes pale 
yellow. This fpecies is reprefented on the preceding 
Plate, at fig. 2. Linnaeus afligns two ftamens only to the 
flowers ; which feems generally to be the cafe ; but there 
are fometiines four, though Gouan could never difcern 
that number. Scopoli affirms that the flowers are never 
diandrous inTCarniola. Silicles numerous, fmali, much 
compreffed, containing one teed in each cell. The plant 
has a pungent tatte, and fetid fmell like a fox. Native of 
molt parts of Europe, in watte places, efpecially near the 
fea-coaft : with us at Malden, Effex ; Wifbeach, Cam- 
bridgefhire; Yarmouth, Lynn, and Clay, Norfolk; by 
the Severn, above Worcetler; near King’s Wetton, be¬ 
low Brittol; Truro, Cornwall; and on the coatt of Scot¬ 
land. It flowers in June and July. 
18. Lepidium Virginicum, or Virginian pepperwort: 
flowers tetrapetalous; Item-leaves lanceolate-linear, fer¬ 
rate, pinnatifid ; lower ones pinnate. Root annual, fin- 
gle, white, an inch long; root-leaves an inch in length, 
half of them being footftalk and redditli, with three or 
four deep jags, at the beginning oval, half an inch broad, 
indented about the edges, fmooth, dark green. Stalk 
round, whitifh green, a foot and a half high, having 
longer, narrower, deeper-cut, leaves, fet thick about it 
without any order; the branches alfo come out frequently 
on all fides, and round them many flowers, fmali, white, 
four-petalled, on peduncles the eighth part of an inch in 
length. Silicle round, emarginate, containing one ob¬ 
long reddifh feed in each cell. Native of all the Caribbee 
Iflands, and Virginia. Cultivated in the Chelfea garden in 
S713. It flowers in June and July. In the Weft Indies 
the inhabitants eat the leaves in their falads, as we do 
thofe of L. fativurn, or garden-crefs. 
19. Lepidium divaricatum, or divaricated pepperwort: 
leaves pipnatifid, Item very much branched ; filicles ovate 
fubemarginate. Native of the Cape of Good Hope, 
where it flowers from May to Auguft. 
20. Lepidium iberis, or buftry pepperwort: flowers 
two-ftamened, four-petalled ; lower leaves lanceolate, fer¬ 
rate ; upper leaves linear, quite entire. This has a long 
flefiiy root, which runs deep into the ground, and fends 
out many oblong, leaves fpreading flat on the ground. 
Stalks (lender, (tiff, branching out horizontally on every 
fide, about two feet high. The flowers come out in fmali 
clofe clufters at the ends of the branches; they are white, 
and appear in June and July ; the feeds ripen in autumn. 
The plant is recommended as having the fame qualities 
with L. latifolium, and is fometimes called fciatica-crefs. 
Native of the fouth of France, Italy, Sicily, Germany, 
Spain, and Siberia. 
aj. Lepidium Bonarienfe, or Buenos Ayres pepper* 
wort: flowers two-ftamened ; four-petalled; petals mi¬ 
nute, all the leaves pinnate-nrultifid. Leaves and (talks 
much like thofe of garden-crefs, but more divided, and 
of a different tafte and fmell. Petals fo fmali as to be air 
mod: imperceptible ;_and only two ftamens to each flower. 
Murray affirms that it has fix ftamens ; Dillenius obferved 
only two. _ The number certainly varies much in this' 
genus. Dillenius defcribes this plant as two feet high 
and more, with many branches very full of leaves in 
bundles, refembling thofe of. tanfey, but lefs cut, and 
having fmali hairs on the back and along the edges. 
Flowers fo fmali as not to be feen with the naked eye. 
Native of Buenos Ayres, Brafil and other parts of Ame r 
rica. Cultivated before 173a iq the Eltham garden 5. 
Miller fays that the feeds came up in the earth from feve- 
ral parts of America. It has alfo been found at the 
fouthern end of Africa. 
22. Lepidium chalepenfe, or eaftern pepperwort: leaves 
fagittate, feffile, toothed. This has creeping roots. Leaves 
longer and narrower than thofe of Cochlearia draba, an 4 
lefs hoary. Flowers in loofe bunches at the end of the 
branches, final! and white. Linnaeus remarks, that it 
has the appearance of Thlafpi camp.eftre, infomuch that 
it can fcarcely be diltinguifhed but by the filicles. Na¬ 
tive of the Levant, about Aleppo. 
23. Lepidium pifcidium, or pifcatory pepperwort: 
leaves elliptic-oblong, acute, quite entire ; flowers tetra- 
dynamous. Stem herbaceous, two feet high, with the 
branches fpreading at bottom, and thence afcending, round 
and even. Leaves alternate, fpreading, loofe, two inches 
long, the lower ones of the ftem attenuated at the bafe. 
Flowers fmali, white. Native of the iflands in the Soutli 
Sea; Botany ifland, Teautea, and Huaheine. It is ufed 
by the inhabitants for taking fifties by inebriating them. 
It is very acrid, and was ufed by our circumnavigators 
in their falads with L. oleraceum, which it refembles, but 
differs in many effential marks. 
Propagation and Culture. If the feeds of the annual 
forts be (own in the autumn, the plants will flower in 
April, May, or June, and the feeds will ripen in May, 
June, or July. If thefe be permitted to 1 'catter, the plants 
will come up in autumn, and require no other care but 
to thin them when they are too clofe, and to weed them. 
The feeds of common garden-crefs are fown in drills 
pretty clofe, in winter on moderate hot-beds, in fpring 
and autumn on borders, and are foon fit for ufe. It 
(hould be cut young, otherwife it will be too rank. The 
perennial forts are eafily propagated; for every piece of 
the root will grow and multiply wherever it is planted, 
and will become difficult to root out in a garden, when it 
is once eftabliffied. 
LEPIDOCARPODEN'DRON,/. in botany. See Pro* 
TEA. 
LEPIDOCI'DES, or Lepidoi'des, f. [from the Gr„ 
Ae^t?, a fcale, and £i$b{, a (hape.J In anatomy, the fcaly fu¬ 
ture of the fkull. Scott. 
LEPID'OLITE,_/i in mineralogy. See Mica lepidoli- 
thus; 
LEPIDOP'TERA, f. in zoology, the third order of 
inlebts. See the article Entomology, vol. vi. p. 833. 
LEPIDOP'TEROUS, adj. Belonging to the above or¬ 
der-; as, A lepidopterous infebt. 
LEPIDOSAR'COMA, /. [from the Gr. Astw, a fcale, 
and o-agl, the fleffi.] In furgery, the lepis, a fcaly kind of 
tumour. 
LEPIDOSPER'MA, f. [fo called by Labillardiere, 
from At 7115, Aewidos, a fcale, and acrspyx, feed ; becaufe of 
the fix permanent fcales which invelt the bafe of that 
part.] In botany, a genus of the clafs triandria, order 
monogynia, natural order calamariae, Linn, (cyperoideae, 
Ju.J[. cyperaceae, Brown.) The generic characters are—* 
Calyx: fpikelet imbricated every way, of one or two 
flowers, and one feed; fcales feveral, ovate, concave, 
acute, for the moft part empty. Corolla: none, except 
we fo call the fix flat membranous thiekiffi fcales, united 
3 «* 
