CI.ASS XV.— 3I0NADELPHIA. 



I.— PENTANDRIA. 



468. LOBELIA. L. 



Calix S-cleCt. Corolla monopetalous, irregu- 

 lar, on the upper side cieft nearly to its base. 

 Stamina united into a tube. Stigma 2-lobed; 

 involucrate! involucrum (or indusium) bearded. 

 Capsule inferior or seinisuperior, 2 or 3-celied» 

 opening at the summit. Seeds minute, scabrous. 



Suffruticose, shrubby, rarely arborescent, most com- 

 monly herbaceous; leaves alternate, flowers minutely bi~ 

 bracteolate, solitary and axillary, or terminal and ruCL- 

 mose, raceme bracteate; flowers bilabiate, 5-cleft, upper 

 lip cloven, secjments linear, lower trifid, lacinise ovate or 

 obovate, palate channelled orbidentate, ofien bimaculate. 

 Tube of the anthers curved at the summit, bearded and 

 perforate, at leng-th admitting the egress of the stigma. 

 Colour of the flowers, scarlet, fulvous, or more common» 

 ly bkie. 



Species. 1. \^. Dortmanna. Leaves linear, fistulous, 

 and biiocular, scape simple. 2. * pahtdosa. Leaves radi- 

 cal, aggregated, flat, linear-ohlong, obtuse, carnose and 

 luc;d, margin obsoletely crenuhite; scape nearly simple and 

 naked; flowers few and very remote; disk of the lower lip 

 thinly bearded. Hab. In deep sphagnose swamps, from 

 Sussex county in Delaware to Georgia. A very singular 

 species, evidently allied to L. Dortmamia^ and like it sub- 

 aquatic, but perfectly distinct. Oes. Root perennial, pro- 

 ducing large clusters of thick fleshy leaves 4 to 6 inches 

 long and scarcely 5 lines wide, from the centre of these 

 arise several fistulous, angular scapes, about 2 feet in 

 length, mostly simple,* tiioueh sometimes sending out a 

 single branch subtended by 1 or 2 le-.ives. Flowers pale 

 blue and small, subtended by minute bractes, often near 2 

 inches apart; calix smooth. The pubescence of the lower lip 

 in tins and the following species is a peculiarity not to be 

 met with in any of the other Nortlx American Lobelias, 



