110 PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



ORDER 175. LOBELIACE^. The Cardinal-Flower 



Tribe. 



Calyx superior, 5-lobed, or entire, with an irregular, 1-petalled 

 corolla, 5-lobed, or 5-cleft ; stamens 5, inserted into the calyx ; 

 ovary inferior, 1 - 3-celled ; leaves alternate. 



Acrid and dangerous plants, and some are very poisonous ; 

 they abound within and near the tropics. 



Lobelia. L. 5. 1. 



Named in honor of Lobel of Lisle, physician and botanist to 

 James the First of England. Nearly 100 species have been de- 

 scribed ; about a dozen belong to North America, and 7 to this 

 State ; only 3 to Europe. 



Stamens united into a tube towards the summit ; corolla ir- 

 regular, cleft on the upper side towards the base. 



L. cardinalis. L. Cardinal Flower. Grows on the banks 

 of streams in alluvial soil, and in alluvial meadows and low 

 grounds, 2 or 3 feet high, leafy, and bearing a long spike of fine 

 scarlet flowers, and hence its common name. It is a splendid 

 plant when in flower, and is found over much of the United States ; 

 it is easily cultivated in gardens, and forms a fine border flower. 



L. fulgens, W., and L. sphndens, W., both from Mexico, are 

 the two other "grand ornaments of this genus." All are culti- 

 vated in England, with more than 30 other species. Loudon. 



L. injlata. L. Indian Tobacco. The leaves contain a 

 white, viscid juice of a very acrid taste, and very poisonous to 

 the human system ; the plant operates as a violent emetic, and is 

 the dangerous medicine of many who are called vegetable doctors, 

 or botanic physicians. This species is spread extensively over 

 the fields, and in waste grounds, varying much in height, and 

 when over a foot high is much branched, bearing small, light-blue 

 flowers ; the fruit-vessel enlarges, and becomes much inflated in 

 maturity. 



