LOBELIA FEAYANA. DR. FEAY's LOBELIA. I 39 



angular lobes. The garden Lobelia has the lip also in three 

 divisions, but these divisions are mere slits ; indeed at a little dis- 

 tance the lip looks almost entire, and seems to have a regular 

 semi-circular outline. 



The v^^hole structure of Lobelia is very interesting, and no 

 less so the natural order to which it belongs, Lobeliacece. The 

 plants of the order are not very far removed from the Aster 

 family or composites on the one hand, and the Campanulas or 

 Bell-flowers on the other ; and in connection with these two afford 

 a very pretty lesson respecting transition or gradation between 

 great bodies in the vegetable kingdom. If we take a single 

 flower of an Aster, we find the single pistil divided at the apex, 

 the five anthers united together with their faces inward ; the pistil is 

 at first shorter than the anthers, but ultimately lengthening, and 

 pushing out as it grows the pollen from the tube formed by the 

 united stamens. In Lobelia we have a monopetalous corolla, 

 somewhat divided, and bursting irregularly on one side as 

 composites do when forming strap-shaped florets. The calyx is 

 generally united with the ovary, and the calyx lobes may be 

 regarded as the equivalent of pappus or setae, which often crown 

 the seed. It is chiefly in the ovarium that we first note any 

 great distinction. In Lobelia the seed-vessel contains numerous 

 small seeds, while in the composite there is but a single seed. 

 But with the numerous points of correspondence we might 

 expect to find some time a composite with more than one seed 

 in the capsule, or a Lobelioaceoiis plant with but a single one. 

 And this is really the case in the latter instance, for there are 

 some few genera of Lobeliacecs which have but a single seed. 

 Few would ever mistake a Lobelia for a composite on a first 

 acquaintance, yet we see how difficult it is in a search to trace 

 very closely the essential points of difference. The same 

 difficulty will occur on the other side with Ca7npaii2daceo2Ls 

 plants. If the anthers were united here, and the pistil had a 

 curving tendency, instead of the regular bell-shaped flower we 

 find in Campamda we should have a structure probably bursting 



