L I G 
the 4tli, 5th, and 6th, ages of Roman literature, from Te¬ 
rence to Caffiodorus, prefents us with only a fingle Ligu¬ 
rian, viz. Pedo Albinovanus, to whom Horace addrefles 
one of his Epiftles. It limit be acknowledged, however, 
that the Ligurians, and their defendants the Genoefe, have 
always evinced an energetic character and that, when¬ 
ever they have had an opportunity of difplaying their ta¬ 
lents, they have conftantlydiftinguifhed themfelvCs. Three 
or four Genoefe or Ligurian popes, Innocent IV. Nicho¬ 
las V. Sixtus IV. and Julius II. have ellablifhed remark¬ 
able epochs in the hiftory of the church and of the em¬ 
pire; and we mull add that they afford a favourable idea 
of the Ligurian character, but not properly of that of the 
Genoefe. Denina's PiBure of Upper Italy, 1807. 
LIGU'RIAN REPUB'LIC. See Genoa, vol. vlil. 
p. 326, 7. 
LIGUS'TICUM,/! [from Liguria in Italy.] Lovage; 
in botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order digynia, 
natural order of umbellatse or umbelli ferae. The generic 
charaflers are—Calyx: umbel univerfal, manifold ; partial 
mtnifold. Involucre univerfal membranaceous, feven- 
leaved, unequal; partial fcarcely four-leaved, membrana¬ 
ceous; perianthium proper five-toothed, obfcure. Co¬ 
rolla : univerfal uniform ; florets all fertile ; proper of five 
petals ; which are equal, involute, flat, entire, inwardly 
keeled. Stamina : filaments five, capillary, fhorter than 
the corolla; antherae Ample. Piflillum: germ inferior; 
fly 1 e3 two, approximated ; ftigmas Ample. Pericarpium : 
none; fruit oblong, cornered, five-furrowed, bipartite on 
each fide. Seeds : two, oblong, fmooth, marked on one 
fide with five elevated Ante, flat on the other fide. There 
are alio male flowers obferved.— EJfential CharaBer. Fruit 
oblong, five-grooved on both fides ; corolla equal, with 
involute entire petals. 
Species. 1. Ligulticum levifticum, or. common lovage: 
leaves manifold ; leaflets gaflied at top. Root ftrong, 
flefhy, perennial, ftriking deep into the ground, and com- 
pofed of many llrong flefhy fibres covered with a brown 
fkin, and having a llrong hot aromatic fimell and tafte. 
Leaves large, compofed of many leaflets fiiaped like thofe 
of fmallage, but larger and of a deeper green. Stems fix 
or feven feet high, large and channelled, dividing into fe- 
veral branches, each terminated by a large umbel of yel- 
•low flowers. Petals very final!, yeliowifh green with a 
yellow receptacle. Fruit ovate-oblong, crowned with an 
obfcure rudiment of the calyx, emarginateat top and bot¬ 
tom, winged. Seeds of the fame form, convex on one 
fide, with three narrow approximating wings, and fur- 
rounded with a broader-ridged not-flexile margin ; flat on 
the other fide, and marked with a raifed longitudinal line ; 
wbitifh bay-coloured. Native of the Alps of Italy, the 
South ofiFrance, Silefia, &c. Cultivated in 1596, by Ge- 
rarde. It flowers in June and July, and the feeds ripen 
in autumn. The odour of this plant is very llrong, and 
peculiarly ungrateful; its tafte is warm and aromatic. It 
abounds with a yeliowifh gummy-refinous juice, very 
much refembling opoponax. Its qualities are fuppofed to 
be fimilar to thofe of angelica and maflerwort in expelling 
flatulencies, exciting fweat, and opening obflruCtions; 
therefore chiefly ufed in hyflerical dil’orders, and in ute¬ 
rine obftruClions. A teacup full of the juice with rhenifh 
■wine, or a decoflion of the feeds with wine or mugwort- 
water, was by Foreflus faid to be a fecret remedy of ex¬ 
traordinary efficacy in flow or laborious parturition. The 
leaves, eaten as falad, are accounted as emmenagogue. 
The root, which is iefs ungrateful than the leaves, is 
faid to poflefs fimilar virtues, and may be employed in 
powder. 
2. Liguflicum Scoticum, or Scotch lovage: leaves bi- 
ternate. This has a biennial root, (all other authors fay, 
perennial,) of much lefs fize than the preceding ; the leaf¬ 
lets are broader and fhorter; each leaf having two or three 
ternate leaflets, indented on their edges. The ftalk rifes 
about a foot high, and fullains an umbel of pale yellow 
flowers, fhaued like thofe of the preceding, with red ftig- 
L I G 695 
mas. Linnseus remarks that the leaves are lucid or glofly 
underneath. The leaflets are oblong-wedged-fiiaped, en¬ 
tire below, above irregularly ferrate, and fometimes deeply 
cut. This is reprefented on the annexed Plate. It is a na¬ 
tive of North America, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and 
Scotland, on rocks near the coaft. It is much valued 
in the Ifle of Sky. The root is reckoned a good carmi¬ 
native ; and an infufion of the leaves in whey, a googi 
purge for calves. It is alfo ufed for food, either as a falad 
or boiled as greens. 
3. Liguflicum Peloponnenfe, or hemlock-leaved lovage: 
leaves manifold-pinnate ; leaflets pinnately-gafhed. Root 
thick, flefhy, like that of parfnep, flriking deep into the 
ground. Leaves large, deep green, when bruifed emitting 
a fetid odour; the leaflets are cut into acute points. 
Stems three or four feet high, large and hollow, fuftain- 
ing large umbels of yeliowifh flowers. Native of Swlf- 
ferland, Auftria, Dauphine, Silefia, Italy, Peloponnefus, 
and Siberia. Cultivated in 1516, by Gerarde. 
4. Liguflicum Auftriacum, or Auflrian lovage : leaves 
bipinnate; leaflets confluent, gaflied, quite entire. Root 
half a foot long or more, the thicknefs of the hitman 
thumb, often branched, yellowifh-brown on the outlide, 
pale within and fpongy. Stem upright, from two to three 
feet in height, grooved, hollow without any partitions at 
the joints, the whole leafy, as thick as the thumb or fin¬ 
ger, Amply branched at top only. Root-leaves very large; 
item-leaves above the middle feflile. Flowers ftrong- 
finelling, large, all fertile. Petals white, lubovate, blunt- 
ifh, a little concave, fpreading very much, not inflex-cor¬ 
date. Fruit ovate, acute. Seeds ovate, browniffi or pale, 
fiat on one fide, on the other convex and deeply four- 
grooved. The whole plant is fmooth. Native of Auftria, 
Silefia, and Italy; cultivated in 1759 by Mr. Miller 5 
flowers from June to Augufl. 
5. Liguflicum Cornubienfe, or Corniffi lovage: root- 
leaves decompound, gaffied ; ftem-leaves ternate, lanceo¬ 
late, entire. Root perennial, fpindle-ffiaped. Stem from 
two to three feet in height, erect, branched, many-flow¬ 
ered, round, ftriated, rooghifh, purple at the hafie, annual. 
Flowers white, equal, all hermaphrodite. Calyx of five 
final 1, roundifh, blunt, concave, leaves; petals five times 
as large as the calyx, oblong, acute, turned in, deeply 
channelled on the back, equal. Native only of Cornwall,, 
where it was obferved by Buddie ; it grows in thickets, 
among bufhes, and in hedges. This plant eluded the 
fearches of modern botanifts till Mr. Pennington found 
it in 1788 in great plenty near Bodmin ; fir Thomas Gery 
Cullum, bart. gathered it there the year following. In 
1793 not a fingle plant was to be found in the field where 
Mr. Pennington had difeovered it; but Dr. Withering 
found it in another place, farther from Bodmin, among 
furze. Cattle are fo fond of it, that they eat it down 
wherever they can get at it. The root contains a yellow 
refinous juice. 
6. Liguflicum peregrinum, or parftey-leaved lovage: 
involucre of the primary umbel fcarcely any, of the late¬ 
ral ones membranaceous at the bafe; rays fomevvhat 
branched. Root biennial. Stem two feet high, rigid, an¬ 
gular, even. It refembles parfley, even in finell and tafte ; 
but all the parts are thicker and more rigid. Native of 
Portugal; introduced “in 1766 by Monf. Thouin ; flowers 
in June and July. 
7. Liguflicum Balearicum, or Balearic lovage : leaves 
pinnate; loweft leaflets augmented with a leaflet. Root 
biennial. Stem round, fomevvhat ftriated, finall in com- 
parifon with the umbel, a foot high. The genus is doubt¬ 
ful, the feeds not having been obferved in a flate of per¬ 
fection. Native of Majorca and Minorca, and about 
Rome. 
8. Liguflicum candicans, or pale lovage: Ieavesfuper- 
decompound ; leaflets wedge-form, gaffied, fmooth ; uni¬ 
verfal involucre two-leaved, fubfoliaceous ; ribs of the 
feeds membranaceous, fmooth. Native place not known; 
introduced here about 1780 j flowers in July and Augufl. 
Several. 
