436 



EXOGENOUS OR DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS. 



(rarely one-) celled, many-seeded. Seeds albuminous. Ex. Lo- 

 belia. All narcotico-acrid poisons. The well-known Lobelia in- 

 flata (Indian Tobacco) is one of the most powerful articles of the 

 materia medica, and the most dangerous in the hands of the reck- 

 less quacks who use it. Less than a teaspoonful of the seeds or 

 powdered leaves will destroy life in a few hours. 



817. Ord, CampannlaceflB (the Campanula Family). Herbs, with 

 a milky (slightly acrid) juice, alternate leaves, and usually showy 

 flowers. Tube of the calyx adnate, the limb commonly five-cleft, 

 persistent. Corolla regular, campanulate, usually five-lobed, with- 

 ering. Stamens five, distinct. Style furnished with collecting 

 hairs. Capsule two- to several-celled, many-seeded. Seeds albu- 

 minous. Ex. Campanula (Bell-flower, Harebell). Of little im- 

 portance, except for ornament. 



818. Ord, Ericaceae (the Heath Family). Shrubs or sometimes 

 herbs. Flowers regular or nearly so, 4 - 5-merous, the petals 

 sometimes distinct. Stamens mostly distinct, free from the co- 

 rolla, as many or twice as many as its lobes, and inserted with it 

 (either hypogynous or epigynous), anthers two-celled, often ap- 

 pendaged, commonly opening by terminal pores. Styles and 

 stigmas united into one. Ovary with two or more cells and usually 

 numerous ovules, free, or in Vaccineaa coherent with the calyx- 

 tube. Seeds usually indefinite, albuminous. Some botanists give 

 the rank of orders to the following suborders. 



819. Subord, Vaeciniea; (the Whortleberry Family). Ovary adnate 



FIG. 790. Branch of Rhododendron Lapponicum. 791. Enlarged flower, with its pedicel 

 and bracts. 792. Flower with the corolla removed, more enlarged. 793. Capsule of R. maxi- 

 mum, opening by septicidal dehiscence ; the valves breaking away from the persistent axis, or 

 columella. 



