Leianthus
(from leios, smooth, and anthos, a flower; alluding to the absence of hairs on the flower). Including Petasostylis. ORD. Gentianeae. A genus comprising ten species of glabrous stove herbs or shrubs, allied to Lisianthus, of which five are from the West Indies; the rest are natives of Mexico and Central America. Flowers yellowish-green or blackish, rarely white, often rather large; cymes sometimes loosely trichotomous, at others in corymbose clusters or umbellate; bracts foliaceous, involucrate; corolla narrow, funnel-shaped. Leaves opposite, petiolate, sessile, or amplexicaul. The species thrive in a compost of sandy peat and loam. Propagation may be effected by seeds, sown in a pot, and placed on a hotbed; or by cuttings of young shoots, inserted in sandy soil, under a bell glass. L. exsertus (exserted). fl. yellow; stamens very long, exserted, flexouse. l. ovate-lanceolate, pedunculate, trichotomous. West Indies, 1793. Shrub. L. longifolius (long-leaved). fl. lemon-yellow, long, drooping, on short axillary and terminal pedicels; tube funnel-shaped, the five lobes being at first spreading, and afterwards reflexed. August. l. lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, acute, downy. Branches fastigiate, tetragonal. h. 1ft. to 2ft. West Indies, 1793. An evergreen sub-frutescent annual. (B. M. 4169.) SYN. Lisianthus longifolius (B. R. xi. 880).
L. l. cordifolius (heart-leaved). l. smaller than in the type, shortly petiolate; superior ones cordate-ovate. h. 2ft. West Indies, 1816. Annual. L. nigrescens (blackish). fl. blackish, pendulous; panicles much branched, loose. July and August. l. decussate, lanceolate, acuminate, three to five-nerved. Branches terete. h. 1 1/2ft. Mexico, 1842. Annual. SYN. Lisianthus nigrescens. (B. M. 4043.) L. umbellatus (umbellate). fl. green; umbels many-flowered, involucrate, axillary. May to July. l. obovate-lanceolate, acuminate; petioles connate. h. 10ft. Jamaica, 1843. Shrub. (B. M. 4243.)