LOBELIA HTBRIDA. 147 



Most of our readers are, doubtless, aware that the Lobelias were formerly classed 

 with the Campanulas, to which they are very closely allied ; though, at first sight, 

 this relationship would hardly be apparent. 



In the Lobelias, the regular symmetrical corolla of the Bell- worts is replaced by 

 one of an irregular form, the two upper divisions of the flower being usually much 

 narrower than the lobes of the lower lip, and the tube of the corolla is split on its 

 upper side, through its entire length. The anthers, too, which in the Lobelias are 

 adherent or srjngenesious, are in the Campanulas quite distinct. Loth orders are 

 characterized by their milky juice, but in the Lobelias, this is extremely acrid and 

 poisonous ; that of the Campanulas being comparatively innocuous. The cohering 

 anthers and irregular split corolla of this order, indicate a near approach to the 

 Composite, to which it is closely related. If a strap-shaped floret of one of the 

 Cichory tribe, be compared with the flowers of a Lobelia, the resemblance between 

 the two orders will be very obvious. 



The mode in which fertilization is ensured in the Lobelias, although, perhaps, 

 less remarkable than in the Bell-worts, is nevertheless deserving notice. When 

 the flower first expands, the style and stigma are invisible, being concealed by the 

 tube, formed by the cohesion of the anthers ; and as these open inwards, the 

 pollen is brought immediately into contact with the stigma. As would be antici- 

 pated, the pollen of the Lobelias is, therefore, destitute of the rough projections 

 characterising that of the Campanulas, by which, as we recently explained, it is in 

 those plants enabled to retain its hold on the style when this is carried up out of 

 reach of the stamens. The tube formed by the united anthers, is, at first, so 

 completely closed at top, that the escape of the pollen is impossible ; but after the 

 fecundation of the flower is effected, the tube opens, and in specimens grown out of 

 the reach of the wind, a long streak of yellowish pollen will be observed on the 

 lower lip, suggesting — if the snuff takers will forgive us for the allusion — a ludicrous 

 resemblance to the train of ' brown dust ' one often sees on the vests of the votaries 

 of the mull. 



Finally, the style elongates and protrudes the two-lipped stigma beyond the 

 anthers. In many of the species, the stigma will be found surrounded with a 

 fringe of hairs, often arranged in a cup-like form. 



Some Botanists have propounded a theory, that the three primary colours of the 

 prismatic spectrum are not to be met with in the same genus of plants. To refute 

 this idea, we need only cite the genus under consideration, in which, as we have 

 already hinted, not only blue and red flowers are found, but also a few species 

 with yellow blossoms. 



The properties of the plants belonging to the Lobeliaccce, are strongly marked, 

 most of the species containing a powerful acrid juice, which, in some, is so virulent 

 that the plants cannot bo touched with safety. Happily for the Florist, those more 



