1142 LOBELIACEAE 



2. Specularia biflora (R. & P.) A. Gray. Annual, slender, scabrous. Stems erect 

 or assurgent, 1-5 dm. tall, simple or branched, especially at the base, the angles armed 

 with more or less retrorse prickle-like hairs : leaf-blades ovate or oblong, or sometimes 

 lanceolate above, 0.5-1.5 mm. long, acute or rarely obtuse, entire or crenate-serrate, sessile, 

 sparingly pubescent on the margins and principal nerves : flowers 1 or 2 in an axil, or 

 rarely rnore, sessile: calyx of the apelatous flower with 3-4 ovate or nearly subulate 

 sepals 1-2 mm. long ; the corolliferous flowers with 4-5 longer lanceolate sepals : corolla 

 blue, 1.5-2 cm. broad : capsules cylindric or fusiform, 6-9 mm. long, more or less ribbed : 

 seeds globose-lenticular, nearly 1 mm. in diameter, smooth and shining. 



In fields and open places, Virginia to Oregon, Florida and Mexico, and in northern South America. 

 Spring to fall. 



3. Specularia leptocarpa (Xutt. ) A. Gray. Annual, spiny-hispid or glabrate. 

 Stems erect or nearly so, 2-5 dm. tall, simple or sparingly branched, especially at the base, 

 the edges or the angles armed with small prickle-like hairs : leaf-blades sessile, oblong, 

 lanceolate or linear-lanceolate, 1-3 cm. long, entire or inconspicuously toothed, acute, the 

 nerves rough on both sides : flowers sessile or nearly so : calyx of the apetalous flowers 

 with 3-4 linear sepals ; that of the corolliferous with 5 longer sepals : corolla magenta or 

 blue, 1.5-2 mm. broad : capsules cylindric, 1.5-2 mm. long, sessile, slightly curved or 

 twisted : seeds oblong-lenticular, a little more than 1 mm. long, shining. 



In dry soil, Missouri to Montana and Texas. Spring to fall. 



4. Specularia Colorado6nsla Buckl. Annual, nearly glabrous. Stems simple and 

 erect, or much branched and spreading, 2-10 dm. long, the angles often armed with 

 minute spine-like teeth : leaf-blades 1-6 cm. long, armed on the edges and nerves like the 

 stem, the lower ones oblong or spatulate, short-petioled, tlie upper lanceolate or linear- 

 lanceolate, sessile, all entire or distinctly toothed, acute : flowers axillary or terminating 

 branches, nearly sessile or short-pedicelled : calyx of both kinds of flowers with 5 linear-subu- 

 late sepals, but those of the apetalous flowers shorter : corolla blue-purple, 2-2.5 cm. broad : 

 capsules cylindric-prismatic, 2-2.5 cm. long, nearly sessile or short -stalked, straight or 

 nearly so, opening by 2 or 3 valves near the top : seeds globose-lenticular, nearly 1 mm. 

 long, shining. 



In dry soil, southern and western Texas. Spring and summer. 



Family 3. LOBELIACEAE Dumort. Lobelia Family. 



Annual or perennial herbs, or rarely trees, often with a milky sap which 

 contains a narcotic-acid poison. Leaves alternate, without stipules : blades sim- 

 ple, entire, toothed or pinnately parted. Inflorescence axillary or terminal, 

 variously disposed. Flowers perfect, or rarely dioecious, in-egular. Calyx of 5 

 sepals. Corolla often bilabiate : tube open on one side nearly or quite to the base. 

 Androecium of 5 epigynous stamens. Filaments sometimes cohering into a 

 tube. Gynoecium a single compound pistil. Ovary 2-5-celled. Styles terminal, 

 united. Stigmas fringed. Ovules numerous, sessile, horizontal, anatropous. 

 Fruit a 1-several-celled capsule or a berry. Seeds numerous, with a smooth or 

 furrowed testa. Endosperm fleshy. Embryo straight in the axis of the endo- 

 sperm. 



1. LOBELIA L. 



Aquatic or terrestrial herbs, with leafy or scape-like stems. Leaves sometimes mainly 



basal : blades entire or variously toothed. Flowers perfect, in spikes, racemes or panicles, 



subtended by minute or leaf-like bracts. Hypanthium ribbed, adnate to the ovary. Sepals 



entire or toothed, often glandular. Corolla red, yello\v, blue or white : tube straight, 



oblique or incurved, open to the base on one side : limb 2-lipped, upper lip with 2 



spreading or reflexed lobes ; lobes of lower lip more or less united. Stamens 5, free : 



filaments monadelphous, at least above. Anthers in a ring around the style, 2 often 



smaller than the rest, all, or 2, bearded at the apex. Ovary inferior, 2-celled : stigmas 



2-lobed or 2-cleft. Capsule surmounted by the calyx, loculicidally 2-valved. Lobelia. 



Corolla red. 



Blades of the upper leaves of an oblong or elliptic type, serrate or dentate. 1. L. cardinalis. 



Blades of the upper leaves of a linear or narrowly linear-lanceolate type, glan- 

 dular-denticulate. " 2. L. splendenB. 

 Corolla blue or white, or variegated with blue and white. 

 Corolla, exclusive of the lower lip, over 1 cm. long. 

 Stems leafy to the inflorescence. 



