692 



LOBELIACE.E. 



[Epigynous Exogens. 



Order CCLXVII. LOBELIACEiE.— Lobeliads. 



Campanulacese, § 2. R. Brown Prodr. 562. (1810).— Lobeliacese, Juss. Ann. Mus. 18. 1. (1811) ; Endl. 

 Gen. cxxiv. ; DC. Prodr. 7. 339 ; rresl. Monogr. Lohel.; Alph. DC. in Ann. Sc. 2. Ser. xii. 149. 



Diagnosis. — Campcaml Exogens, with a 2- or more-celled ovary, syngenesious anthers, a 

 stigma surrounded hy hairs, and a valvate inrgular corolla. 



Herbaceous plants or shrubs, with milky juice. Leaves alternate, without stipules. 

 Flowers axillary or tex-minal. Calyx superior, 5-lobed or entire. Corolla monopetalous, 



1 Fig. CCCCLXV. 4 .5 2 



in aestivation somewhat valvate, uTegular, inserted in the calyx, 5-lobed or deeply 5-cleft. 

 Stamens 5, inserted into the calyx alternately \Ai\\ the lobes of the corolla ; anthers 

 cohering ; pollen oval. Ovary inferior, with from 1 to 3 cells ; o^Tiles very numerous, 

 either attached to the axis, or parietal ; style simple, stigma surroimded by a cup-like fringe. 

 Fruit capsular, 1- or more-celled, many-seeded, dehiscing at the apex. Seeds attached 

 either to the lining or the axis of the pericarp ; embryo straight, in the axis of fleshy 

 albumen ; radicle longer than the cotyledons, pointing to the hilum. 



The plants of this Order at first sight appear to be very different from Composites, but 

 they in fact participate in all the analogies of Bellworts, and perhaps are yet more 

 nearly related to Composites even than that Order, especially in their sj-ngenesious 

 anthers and in the UTegularity of then* corolla, which is split so that tlie segments cohere 

 on one side Hke the 5 segments which make up the ligulate floret of a Composite. The 

 stigma is suri'ounded by hau-s, which are probably analogous to the collectors of Bellworts, 

 to which LobeUads approach closely, as well as to Goodeniads, whose indusium and 

 indupUcate corolla offer the main features of distinction. The Clintoneae are remarkable 

 for a one-celled ovary with parietal placentae ; a few species have polj'petalous flowers, 

 and one species of LobeUa is said to be dioecious ! 



UnUke Bellworts, these seem to prefer countries within or upon the border of the 

 tropics to such as have a colder character. We find them aboimding in the West 

 Indies, Brazil, the Himalayan region, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Sandwich Islands; 

 and they are not uncommon in Chile and New Holland. 



All the species are dangerous or suspicious, in consequence of the excessive acridity 

 of their milk. Siphocampylus Caoutchouc is so named by the inhabitants of Popayan 

 from the tenacity of its juice. Tupa Feuilleei j-ields a dangerous poison in Chile. The 

 most active article of the North American INIateria IMedica is said to be the Lobeha 

 inflata ; it possesses an emetic, sudorific, and powerful expectorant effect ; when given 

 with a view to empty the stomach it operates vehemently and speedily; producing, how- 

 ever, great relaxation, debility, and perspiration, and even death, if given in over-doses. 

 The anti-sypliiUtic vu'tues ascribed to Lobeha syphilitica are supposed to have resided 

 in its diuretic property ; they are, however, generally discredited. Isotoma longiflora, a 

 native of some of the West India Islands, is one of the most venomous of plants ; the 

 Spanish Americans call it Prebenta Cavallos, because it proves fatal to horses that eat it, 

 swelling them until they burst ; taken internally, it acts as a violent cathartic, the effects 

 of which no remedy can assuage, and which end in death ; the leaves are active vesi- 



Fig. CCCCLXV.— Lobelia siphilitica. 1. an entire flower : 2. the stamens ; 3. perpendicular section 

 of the ovary ; 4 and 5 stigmas. 



