306 LOBELIACE.E. (LOBELIA FAMILY.) 



— Perennial by offsets, with large and very showy intensely red flowers, vary- 

 ing rarely to rose-color or even wliite. Hybrids with the next species also 

 occur. 



* * Floirers blue, or blue variegated ivith white. 



-1- Flowers rather large {corolla-tube 5-6" long), spicate-racemose ; stems leafy y 



1-3° high ; perennial. 



++ Leaves ovate to lanceolate, numerous ; lip of corolla glabrous. 



2. L. syphilitica, L. (Great Lobelia.) Somewhat hainj ; leaves 

 thin, acute at. both ends (2-6' long), irregularly serrate ; flowers (nearly V 

 long) pedicelled, longer than tlie leafy bracts ; calyx hirsute, the sinuses with 

 conspicuous defexed auricles, tlie short tube hemispherical. — Low grounds, 

 common. — Flowers light blue, rarely white. 



3. L. pubdrula, Michx. Finely soft-pubescent; leaves thickish, obtuse 

 (1 -2' long), with small glandular teeth ; spike rather 1 -sided ; bracts ovate; 

 sinuses of the calyx with short and rounded or often inconspicuons auricles, the 

 hairy tube top-shaped. — Moist sandy grounds, N. J. to Iowa, and south to Tex. 

 and Fla. — Corolla bright blue, \' long. 



4. L. amoena, ^Vlichx. Glabrous or nearly so ; raceme virgate ; leaves 

 narrower; bracts lanceolate or linear, often glandular-denticulate ; calyx-lobes 

 long and very slender, usually without auricles, the tube glabrous. — S. Atlantic 

 States, in swamps. — Var. GLAXDULfpEKA, Gray ; a slender form with secund 

 raceme, oval to lance-oblong obtuse gland-toothed leaves;, and the bracts and 

 calyx-teeth beset with slender gland-tipped teeth. S. Va. and southward. 



•t-i- ++ Leaves long and narrow, sparse above; lip of corolla pubescent at base. 



5. L. glandulosa, Walt. Glabrous, or sparingly pubescent ; leaves, 

 bracts, and usually the lobes of the calyx, strongly glandular-toothed ; calyx- 

 tube densely hispid, rarely sparsely so or smoothish, the sinuses not auriculate. 



— Pine-barren swamps, S. Va. to Fla. 



1- -»- Flowers smaller {corolla-tube not more than 2-3" long). 

 ■*•* Stem leafy, mostly simple, continued into an elongated virgate spike-like ra- 

 ceme ; leaves lanceolate to obovate, barely denticu'ate or repand. 



6. L. leptostachys, A. DC. Smooth above ; leaves obtuse, denticulate, 



oblong-lanceolate, the upper gradually reduced to awl-rdiaped bracts ; calyx- 

 lobes nearly equalling the corolla, with 10 reflexed awl -shaped appendages 

 as long as the hemispherical tube. — Sandy soil, Ohio to 111. and Mo.; also Va. 

 to Ga. 



7. L. spic^ta, Lam. Stem slender, strict (1 -4° high) from a biennial (?) 

 root, below and the barely denticulate leaves minutely pubescent; lower and 

 root-leaves obovate or spatulate, the upper reduced to linear or club-shaped 

 bracts ; calyx-tube short, obconical or becoming almost hemispherical, sinuses 

 not appendaged. — Moist or dry, mostly gravelly or sandy soil, N. New Eng. 

 to Sask., south to Ark. and La. Fl. through summer. — Var. parvifl6ra, 

 Gray, a small form, with calyx-lobes broadly sulnilate, and pale corolla but 3" 

 long. Swamps, Lancaster, Penn. {Porter); beginning to flower in June. — Var. 

 HiRTELLA, Gray ; with somewhat scabrous pubescence, and minutely hirsute- 

 ciliate bracts and calyx-lobes. Chiefly toward and beyond the Mississippi. 



