474 LOBELIACEAE (LOBELIA FAMILY) 



trose bristles; so also the midrib beneath and the margins of the lanceolate 

 or linear sessile leaves: flower-buds drooping: . calyx-lobes triangular: corolla 

 pale blue or whitish, deeply cleft, the lobes 4 mm. long or less: capsule erect. 

 Wet grassy grounds; from Colorado to the Saskatchewan and eastward. 



2. SPECULARIA Heist. VENUS'S LOOKING-GLASS 



Annuals with leafy slender stems and sessile flowers. Corolla blue or 

 purplish. Flowers dimorphous; the earlier ones smaller, with undeveloped 

 corolla, and a 3 or 4-lobed calyx. Calyx-lobes of the later corolliferous 

 flowers 5. Capsule with valvular openings either near the summit or near the 

 middle. (Legouzia Brit.) 



Leaves linear . . 1. S. leptocarpa. 



Leaves ovate or broader . . . . . . . . . 2. S. perfoliata. 



1. Specularia leptocarpa (Nutt.) Gray, Proc. Am. Acad. 11: 82. 1876. 

 Minutely hirsute or nearly glabrous; stems 1-2 dm. high, virgate, mostly 

 simple, or branched from the base: leaves lanceolate: capsule nearly cylin- 

 drical, 10-15 mm. long, inclined to curve and rarely to twist, opening by 1 or 

 2 uplifted valves near the summit; the lower also often splitting longitudinally 

 from the summit; seeds oblong. Arkansas to western Texas and Colorado. 



2. Specularia perfoliata L. Sp. PI. 169. 1753. Stems 1-4 dm. high, very 

 leafy throughout, hirsute or hispid on the angles: leaves round-cordate and 

 clasping, mostly crenate, veiny: flowers single or clustered in the axils: cap- 

 sule oblong or somewhat obconical; the 2 or 3 valvular openings at or below 

 the middle; the capsule not disposed to split; seeds lenticular. From Col- 

 orado to Utah and Oregon, also throughout the states eastward. 



114. LOBELIACEAE Dumort. LOBELIA FAMILY 



Herbs with milky juice, alternate leaves, scattered flowers, irregular 5- 

 lobed corolla, and the 5 stamens free from the corolla and united into a tube 

 commonly by their filaments and always by their anthers. Calyx-tube ad- 

 herent to the 2-celled, many-seeded capsule. Style 1. 



Corolla open down to the base on one side . ; . . . . . 1. Lobelia. 

 Corolla with a closed tube; capsule wholly inferior . . 1 . .2. Lauren tia. 



LOBELIA L. 



Flowers axillary or chiefly in bracted racemes. Calyx-tube 5-cleft, with a 

 short tube. Corolla with a straight tube and somewhat 2-lipped; the upper 

 lip of 2 rather erect lobes, the lower lip spreading and 3-cleft. Capsule 2- 

 celled, opening at the top. 



Flowers red . . . . . . . . . . . 1. L. splendens. 



Flowers blue . . . . . . . . . . . 2. L. syphilitica. 



1. Lobelia splendens Willd. Hort. Berol. pi. 86. 1809. Perennial, minutely 

 pubescent or glabrate, erect, 3-10 dm. high: leaves linear-lanceolate to linear, 

 more or less glandular-toothed; the upper sessile; the lower tapering to a 

 short petiole: raceme 1-3 dm. long: sepals narrow : corolla deep red; the tube 

 longer than the lobes: capsule subglobose, with a conical beak; seeds tuber- 

 culate. L. cardinalis. Utah to Colorado and Texas. 



2. Lobelia syphilitica L. Sp. PI. 931. 1753. Stems simple, 5-10 dm. high, 

 leafy to the top, somewhat hairy: leaves thin, oblong or ovate-lanceolate, 

 acute at both ends, irregularly serrate: flowers in a long spike-like- raceme, 

 light blue, rarely white: sinuses of the calyx with deflexed auricles: capsule 



