lecythi daceæ

pl. [Mod. Lat. lecythis gen it. lecythid (is); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff.- aceœ.] Bot.: Lecyths. An order of epigynous exogens, alliance Myrtales. It consists of large trees, with alternate entire or toothed undotted leaves, and minute deciduous stipules. The flowers are large, showy, terminal, solitary, or racemose; calyx superior; two to six-leaved; corolla of six petals, sometimes cohering at the base; stamens indefinite epig contander if only the beginnings and endings. Ils contained the Gospels and Epistles for the year; part formed into a unilateral ma ; often as minored only the beginnings and endingstiont is authorship cannot be decided. The lectionary found by Dom Mabillon in the convent of Luxueil is interesting as showing that, according to ancient Gallican use, three le ons were read at ma . 2. Anglican: In the article, "Concerning the Service of the Church," in the Episcopal Prayer Book, general rules are laid down as to the reading of Scripture in Divine Service; the system of Daily and Proper Le ons was established in 1559; the tables were drawn up in 1599, and in 1661 the lectionary was settled in the form it kept for two centuries. *lěc-ti-ster-ni-ŭm, s. [Latin, from lectus =a couch, and sterno to strew, to spread out.] Cla . Myth.: A sacrifice of the nature of a feast offered to the gods, an evident survival of the idea common in early stages of religious development that divinities actually partook of the offerings presented to them. (See the apocryphal story of Bel and the Dragon.) On occasions of extraordinary solemnity, or in times of public calamity, the Greeks and Romans placed tables with food before images of the gods reclining on couches. According to Livy (v. 13), the first Roman lectisternium took place A. U. C. 354, when a terrible plague affected the cattle. These sacrificial feasts were of two kinds-ordinary, occurring almost daily (Liv. xlii. 30); and extraordinary, occurring at intervals, and lasting from three to eight days, or even for a longer period (Liv. xii. 10). without anthers; ovary inferior, from two to six celled; fruit a woody capsule; seeds several. They are natives of Guiana and other hot parts of South America. Genera seven; known species thirty eight. le-çỹ-this, s. [Gr. lēkuthos =an oil-flask.] Bot.: The typical genus of the order Lecythidacee (q.v.). Calyxsix-lobed; petals six, with sterile stamens attached to a hood-like body. Thirty or forty species are known, mostly giant trees from Brazil, Venezuela, and Guiana. The great woody pericarps of the several species are used as drinking ve els. The seeds are large and eatable, but leave an unpleasant taste in the mouth. Lecythis ollaris , the Sapucaya, is the largest tree in the Brazilian forests. The bark is cut by the Indians into pieces, and used as wrapping for their cigars. A milky emulsion, prepared from the seeds of L. grandiflora , another Brazilian species, is prescribed for catarrhs.