Home › L › Leontice (From leon leontos a lion)

Leontice (From leon leontos a lion)

(from leon, leontos, a lion; alluding to the fancied resemblance in the leaves to the print of a lion's foot). ORD. Berberideae. A small genus (three or four species) of herbs, with tuberous rhizomes, natives of central Asia and South Europe. Flowers yellow, racemose; racemes sub-paniculate; sepals six to nine, petaloid; petals six, much shorter than the sepals, truncate at apex. Leaves twice or thrice pinnate or trisected, with rather thick segments; cauline ones few. L. altaica-the species best known to cultivation-is a half-hardy plant, succeeding in common soil. It may be increased by offsets, or by seeds.

L. altaica (Altaic). fl. about twelve, in terminal deflected racemes; pedicels one-flowered; petals erect, semi-cylindrical. April. l. solitary, petiolate; petiole tripartite, with spreading divisions, each bearing on its summit five elliptical, glaucous, unequal leaflets, on partial petioles. Stem erect, succulent, green at base. h. 3in. to 6in. Altai Mountains. (B. M. 3245.) L. Chrysogonum. See Bongardia Rauwolfli.