Leonotis
(from leon, a lion, and ous, otos, an ear; in allusion to the fanciful likeness of the corolla to the ear of a lion). Lion's Ear. ORD. Labiatae. A genus comprising about twelve species of greenhouse herbs or shrubs, mostly found in tropical and Southern Africa, one species being broadly dispersed through the Mascarene Islands and East Indies; also found in tropical America. Flowers red or yellow, sessile, often showy; helmet villose; corolla tube often exserted; limb bilabiate; whorls densely many-flowered, sometimes solitary at the tops of the branches. Nutlets ovoid-triquetrous, obtuse or truncate at apex, glabrous. Leaves dentate. The species, when well grown, are very ornamental, and are of easy culture in a rich loamy soil, if once properly established. Propagated by cuttings, which strike freely, in a gentle bottom heat, in early spring.
When rooted, they should be potted off, and shifted into larger sizes as becomes requisite; continual stopping will induce a bushy growth. The plants may be kept in the open air throughout summer, and removed to the greenhouse at the approach of autumn.
L. intermedia (intermediate). fl. bright fulvous or orange-yellow, hairy, in whorls of about thirty from the uppermost joints of the stem. September. l. wrinkled, on very long stalks, smoothish and opaque above, downy beneath; lower ones ovate-cordate, obtuse; upper ones lanceolate. Stems erect, remotely jointed. h. 4ft. Cape of Good Hope, 1822. (B. R. 850.) L. Leonurus.* Lion's Tail. fl. scarlet, villous, 2in. long; whorls rather loose; calyx finely tomentose. Winter. l. oblong-lanceolate, bluntly serrated, tomentose beneath, and pubescent above. Branches tomentose. h. 3ft. to 6ft. Cape of Good Hope, 1712. Shrubby. SYN. Phlomis Leonurus (under which name it is figured in B. M. 478). (G. C. n. s., xix. 186.) L. nepetaefolia (Catmint-leaved). fl., corolla deep shining orange scarlet, upper lip projecting far beyond the nether one; whorls distant, many-flowered. September. l. cordate, obtusely and deeply serrated, green, sub-tomentose; petiole the length of the leaves. h. 4ft. to 6ft. East Indies, 1778. (B. R. 281.)