Lobelia.] campanulace^. 197 



slender, decumbent or prostrate, much-branched annual, glabrous or slightly 

 pubescent, rooting at the lower nodes ; the branches angular and sometimes 

 ascending or nearly erect. Lower leaves stalked, ovate, not cordate, more or 

 less toothed, about $ in. long or rather more ; the upper ones, especially when 

 the flowering branches are more or less erect, smaller, narrower, and more en- 

 tire. Peduncles axillary, longer than the leaves. Calyx-tube obconical, about 

 1 line long when in flower ; the lobes narrow, about as long. Corolla blue, 

 rather longer than the calyx. Anthers all shortly bearded at the top. Capsule 

 obovoid, 2 or 3 lines long. — L. trialata, Ham. ; A. DC. Prod. vii. 360. 



Common in rice-fields, Champion; in ravines, Wilford ; also Hance. There are two 

 varieties in the island, a creeping, slightly pubescent one, with broader leaves, which is the 

 more common state in wet cultivated fields, and is the L. affinis, Wall. ; A. DC. Prod. vii. 

 360 ; and a glabrous one, with asceuding or erect flower-stems and smaller narrower leaves, 

 often entire, growing apparently in more open, waste places. This appears to be the L. chi- 

 nensis, Lour. ; DC. Prod. vii. 360. But our very numerous Indian specimens show that 

 they pass so gradually one into the other, that they can by no means be distinguished as 

 species. 



3. WAHLENBERG-IA, Schrad. 



Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla regular, campanulate or more or less tubular at the 

 base, 5-lobed. Stamens free. Ovary 3- to 5-celled or rarely 2-celled. Style 

 with as many spreading stigmatic lobes. Capsule opening at the top loculi- 

 cidally in as many valves as cells. — Herbs. Leaves alternate, or very rarely 

 opposite or whorled. Peduncles terminal or in the upper axils, often forming 

 loose terminal dichotomous leafy panicles. 



A considerable genus, dispersed over various parts of the world, most abundant in southern 

 Africa. It has all the habit and characters of Campanula, except the dehiscence of the 

 capsule. 



Tall perennial, with large flowers. Capsule usually 5 -valved ... 1. W. grandiflora. 

 Slender annual, with small flowers. Capsule 3-valved 2. W. agrestis. 



1. W. grandiflora, Schrad. A glabrous, somewhat glaucous perennial, 

 with a thick fleshy root-stock ; the stems sometimes erect and simple, some- 

 times decumbent and branched at the base, 1 to 2, or even 3 ft. high. Leaves 

 nearly sessile ; the lower ones almost opposite or in whorls of 3, from ovate 

 to oblong or lanceolate, 1 to 2 in. long, usually acute and more or less toothed, 

 firm, of a deep green above and glaucous underneath ; the upper ones often 

 alternate, and in some specimens almost all narrow-lanceolate. Flowers of a 

 deep blue, broadly bell-shaped, full 2 in. diameter, and lobed to about the 

 middle, sometimes solitary and terminal, more frequently 2 or 3 in a loose 

 raceme, and sometimes 8 or 10 in a branching raceme or leafy panicle. Cap- 

 sule usually 5-celled, opening in 5 valves opposite to the calyx-lobes and bear- 

 ing the dissepiment in their centre, but sometimes only 3 -celled and 3-valved. 

 — Platycodon grandiflorum, A. DC. Prod. vii. 422 ; Sw. Brit. Fl. Gard. ser. 

 2, iii. t. 208. P. chinense, Lindl. in Paxt. Fl. Gard. ii. t. 61. 



On the Chuckchew side of the island only, Champion. On hillsides at Little Hongkong, 

 Wilford. Common in Mantchuria. The character derived from the relative position of the 

 capsule-cells and calyx-lobes appears of too little consequence to separate this species from 

 other Wahlenbergias, being unaccompanied by any others, and failing when the cells are 

 reduced to three. 



2. W. agrestis, A. DC. Prod. vii. 434 ; Wight, Ic.t.lW; Hook, and 



