NAT. ORDER 



LobeliacecE. 



LOBELIA SURINAMENSIS. SHRUBBY LOBELIA 



Class XIX. Syngenesia. Order I. Polygajhia tEqualis. 

 Gen. Char. Calyx, five-parted. Corolla, one-petaled, irregular 



Capsules, inferior, two to five, three-lobed, two-valved at the 



apex. 

 Spe. Char. Stem, fruitful. Leaves, oblong, glabrous, serrated. 



Flowers, pedunculated. 



The vAxoie plant is smooth, and of a beautiful shining green 

 color. The stem is slender, erect, and branched, and, in good soil, 

 obtains the height of several feet ; the leaves are linear, and re- 

 motely denticulate ; radical ones, spathulate ; raceme, few-flowered, 

 and leafy ; peduncles, longer than the fruit, with two minute 

 bracts near the flower ; the capsule is attenuate at the base ; the 

 hlossoyns are very large, of a pale red color ; and its anthers, which 

 are sometimes mistaken for the stigma, are usually hairy. It is a 

 native of the West Indies. 



The Lohelia surinamensis is a plant which was formerly des- 

 cribed by the younger Linnaeus,* under the name Laevigata, appa- 

 rently from the smoothness of its flowers. In the year 1786, Mr. 

 Alexander Anderson, a botanist of some reputation in the West 

 Indies, procured this plant, and sent it to the Royal Garden at 

 Kew, where it was extensively cultivated for medical purposes; 

 but is now found growing spontaneously, in the woods and dry 

 marshes, not only here, but also at Surinam, and the country ad- 

 joining. Mr. Aiton has assigned to it a new specific description, 



and a new trivial name, for the correctness of which, we are at 



Vol a.— 53 



