Lightfootia
(named in honour of Rev. J. Lightfoot, 1735-1788, author of a Flora of Scotland). ORD. Campanulaceae. A genus of about forty species of greenhouse evergreen small shrubs, or erect annual or branching perennial herbs, natives, for the most part, of the Cape of Good Hope. Flowers blue, white, or rose, small. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, often fasciculate in the axils, small or narrow, often squarrose, entire or rigidly dentate. Lightfootias thrive in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand. Propagated by cuttings, made of young shoots, and inserted in sand, containing a little peat, under a bell glass; the annuals, by seed, sown in a warm frame, in spring. Probably the species here described are the only ones yet introduced. L. ciliata (ciliated).* fl. bluish, axillary and terminal, in loose racemes at the tops of the branches. July. l. alternate, somewhat reflexed, ovate-lanceolate, acute, entire. Stem decumbent, woody at the base, branched. Branches woody, erect, purplish. h. 9in. Cape of Good Hope, 1822. SYN. L. Loddigesii. (L. B. C. 1038, under name of L. tenella.)
L. Loddigesii (Loddiges'). A synonym of L. ciliata.
L. oxycoccoides (Oxycoccus-like). fl. white, with reddish nerves, axillary and terminal, at the tops of the branches. July. l. alternate, reflexed, ovate-lanceolate, acute, thin, denticulated at the base. Stem erect or ascending, much-branched; branches diffuse. h. 6in to 12in. Cape of Good Hope, 1787.
L. sessiliflora (sessile-flowered). fl. blue, numerous, terminal and axillary, solitary, racemose. l. alternate, rarely opposite, numerous, very narrow, erectish or spreading. Stem ascending or erect, rather woody, mostly simple or branched. h. 1ft. to 1 1/2ft. Cape of Good Hope.
L. tenella (delicate). A synonym of L. ciliata.