Glass XY.— MONAD ELPHIA. 



I.^PENTANDRIA. 



468. LOBELIA. L. 



Calix 5-cleri. Corolla monopctaloiis, irregu- 

 lar, on the upper side cleft nearly to its base. 

 Stamina united into a tube. Stigma 2-lobcd; 

 involucrate! imolacrum (or indusium) bearded. 

 Capsule inferior or semisiiperior, 2 or 3-celled, 

 opening at the summit. Seeds minute, scabrous. 



SufFruticose, shrubby, rarely arborescent, most com- 

 monly herbaceous; leaves alternate, flowers minutely bi- 

 bracteoiate, solitary and axillary, or terminal and race- 

 mose, raceme bracteate; flowers bilibiate, 5-cleft, upper 

 lip cloven, se^^ments linear, lower triiid, laciniae ovate or 

 obovate, palate channelled or bidentate, often bimaculate. 

 Tube of the anthers curved at the summit, bearded and 

 perforate, at length admittin.^ the eg-ress of the stigma. 

 Colour of the flowers, scarlet, fulvous, or more common- 

 ly blue. 



Species. 1. lu. Dortmanna. Leaves linear, fistulous, 

 and bilocular, scape sim.ple. 2. * paludosa. Leaves radi- 

 cal, aggregated, flat, linear-oblong, obtuse, carnose and 

 lucid, m;Hrgin obsoletely crenulate; scape nearly simple and 

 naked; flowers few and very remote; disk of the lower lip 

 thinly bearded. Hab. In deep sphagnose swamps, from 

 Sussex county in Delaware to Georgia. A very singular 

 species, evidently allied tu L. Dortmanna^ and like it sub- 

 aquatic, but perfectly distinct. Obs- Root perennial, pro- 

 ducing large clusters of thick fleshy leaves 4 to 6 inches 

 long and scarcely 5 lines wide, from the centre of these 

 arise several fistulous, angular scapes, about 2 feet in 

 length, mostly simj^le, though sometimes sending out a 

 single branch subtended by i or 2 leaves. Flowers pale 

 blue and small, subtended by minute bractes, often near 2 

 inches apart: calix smooth, 'fhe pubescence of the lower Up 

 in this and tiie following species is a peculiarity not to be 

 met with in any of the other 2sorth American Lobelias, 



