BLUE AND PURPLE 



delicate blossoms still left upon the elongated stems. These 

 flowers have a certain spirituality which is lacking in their hand- 

 some, self-assertive relation, butter-and-eggs. 



GREAT LOBELIA. 



Lobelia syphilitica. Lobelia Family. 



Stem. — Leafy; somewhat hairy; one to three feet high. Leaves. — Al- 

 ternate; ovate to lance-shaped; thin; irregularly toothed. Flowers. — 

 Rather large; light blue; spiked. Calyx. — Five-cleft; with a short tube. 

 Corolla. — Somewhat two-lipped ; the upper lip of two rather erect lobes, the 

 lower spreading and three-cleft. Pistil. — One, with a fringed stigma. 



The great lobelia is a striking plant which grows in low 

 ground, flowering from midsummer into the fall. In some places 

 it is called " High-Belia," a pun which is supposed to reflect 

 upon the less tall and conspicuous species, such as the Indian 

 tobacco, L. inflata, which are found flowering at the same season. 



If one of its blossoms is examined, the pistil is seen to be en- 

 closed by the united stamens in such a fashion as to secure self- 

 fertilization, one would suppose. But it is hardly probable that 

 a flower so noticeable as this, and wearing a color as popular as 

 blue, should have adorned itself so lavishly to no purpose. Con- 

 sequently we are led to inquire more closely into its domestic 

 arrangements. Our curiosity is rewarded by the discovery that 

 the lobes of the stigma are so tightly pressed together that they 

 can at first receive no pollen upon their sensitive surfaces. We 

 also find that the anthers open only by a pore at their tips, and 

 when irritated by the jar of a visiting bee, discharge their pollen 

 upon its body through these outlets. This being accomplished 

 the fringed stigma pushes forward, brushing aside whatever 

 pollen may have fallen within the tube. Finally, when it pro- 

 jects beyond the anthers, it opens, and is ready to receive its 

 pollen from the next insect- visitor. 



The genus is named after an early Flemish herbalist, de 

 I'Obel. 



311 



