NAT. ORDER 



LobeliacccE. 



LOBELIA PUBERULA. BLUE DOWNY LOBELIA. 



Class J". Pentandru. Order I. Monogynu. 



Gen. Char. Calyx, adnate to the ovarium. Limb, five-parted. Co- 

 rolla, irregular, tubular, tube cleft. The two Segments on the 

 upper lip, linear-lanceolate. Filaments, combined above. An- 

 thers, cohering^, bearded. Capsule, oval, two-celled, two-valved. 



Spe. Char. Leaves, oblong, obtuse, repandly sermlated. Flowers, 

 almost sessile, forming a spike. Calij.v, downy. Calycine Seg- 

 m,cnls, erect, lanceolate-subulate, entire. Stamens, inclosed. 



The root is perennial ; the stem erect, simple, two to three feet 

 high, angled, very slightly downy ; leaves, alternate, remote, three to 

 four inches long, oblong or elliptical-lanceolate, sessile, dentato-serrate, 

 in our specimens nearly glabrous, gradually smaller upwards ; the 

 radicle ones subspathulate ; the spike is from eight to ten inches and 

 sometimes even a foot long, slender ; ihcjloiccrs are placed upon short 

 pedicels, spreading, bracteated ; bractcas lanceolate, wavy, with glan- 

 dular serratures ; the calijx-segments are almost as long as the tube 

 of the corolla, erect, lanceolate-subulate, entire, edged with red, and 

 the sinuses reflexed ; the corolla is of a bright purplish-blue, divided 

 almost to the base into two portions ; the upper one linear, bifid, the 

 segments acute reflexed, the lower broad and reflexed at the extremi- 

 ty, three-lobed, with two oval, white, protuberant spots, the lobes 

 ovate ; stamens included in the corolla. 



This is a highly interesting and valuable addition to the Materia 



Vol. III. — 101. 



