Lobelia LOBELIACEAE-COMPOSITAE Lobelia 



1. Lobelia Linn. Ill ft ^M (Shan Keng Ts'ai Shu) 

 Herbs, a few tropical species somewhat woody, with fls. mostly in bracteate ra- 

 cemes; corolla more or less 2-lipped, with a straight tube split down one side to the 

 base; at least 2 anthers hairy at the tip: fr. a many-seeded pod, opening at the top. 

 250 species, cosmopolitan; 6 in China. (After Matthias de I'Obel, a Flemish botanist 

 and author, 1538-1616.) 



Key to the Species 



Stems slender, decumbent or prostrate: fls. blue or pinkish, 1-2 cm. 



long 1 . L. chinensis 



Stems stout, erect, 1-2 m. tall: fls. purple to rose, about 3cm. long .. 2. L. pyramidalis 



1. Lobelia chinensis Lour. (L. trigona Benth., not Roxb.) ^\1\^M (Hua Shan Keng 

 Ts'ai) (Be.F.196; F.H.E.2:2). Decumbent or prostrate herb, to 1.5 dm.; fls. small, 

 blue or pink, V-VIII. Southern and east-central China; locally in An., Hun., 

 Ki., Ku. Wet places, rice fields. 



2. Lobelia pyramidalis Wall. (H.F. 3:426). Erect herb, to 2m.; fls. large, reddish 

 purple, VII-VIII. Southeastern Asia; locally in Hun., Ki. Streamsides, wet places- 



169. COMPOSITAE Composite Family 3^ (Chu K'o) 



Herbs (ours), shrubs or trees, in one tribe with milky sap: lvs. mostly alternate 

 sometimes opposite or whorled, simple and entire to much divided, but never truly 

 compound: infl. of few-to many-fid. heads (rarely 1-fld.), solitary or in spikes, racemes 

 cymes or panicles, or glomerate: each head ivith an involucre of bracts (often called 

 phyllaries) surrounding the small regular or irregular fls. which are closely arranged 

 on a flat, convex or concave, pitted or smooth, often bristly or scaly-bracted receptacle: 

 the outer fls. of the head often with strap-shaped (ligulate) corollas, called ray fls. 

 which resemble petals, giving the head the appearance of a single large fl. (heads 

 with rays are called radiate or ligulate; those without rays are called discoid if all the 

 corollas are similar and tubular or filiform, disciform if the outer fls. are pistillate 

 with filiform corolla or even without corolla and the inner fls. hermaphrodite with 

 tubular corolla); calyx tube united to the one-celled one-ovuled inferior ovary, the limb 

 none, or represented by hairs, bristles or scales, called pappus; corolla 2-5-lobed, 

 regular, ligulate, or rarely bilabiate; stamens (in the perfect fls.) as many as the lobes 

 of the corolla and alternate with them, inserted on the corolla tube; anthers united 

 into a tube around the style, which is 2-cleft or entire : fr. an achene, usually crowned 

 by the pappus hairs, bristles or scales. The largest family of flowering plants. About 

 950 genera with 20,000 species, in all parts of the world, but most abundant in the 

 temperate regions; 80 genera and 700 species in China. 



The Compositae, except Cichorieae, have been revised, and the key to genera prepared 

 by S. F. Blake. The text with keys for the Cichorieae was contributed by G. L. Stebbins, Jr. 



Key to the Genera 



A. Fls. all hermaphrodite and with flat strap-shaped 5-toothed corollas: 

 plants with milky latex. 

 B. Pappus none, or of scales, or of 2-4 stout hooks. 



Pappus of scales: fls. purple, blue or white 48. Cichoriwm 



387 



