6<J2 



LOBFLIACE.E. 



[Eimgynous E.\o(ii:.\s. 



Ordkr CCLXVII. LOBELIACEiE.— Lobeliads. 



Campanulaceae, § 2. K. Brown Prndr. 562. (1810). — Lobeliaceae, Juss. Ann. Mus. 18. 1. t is 1 1 ) ; Endl. 

 Gen. cxxiv. ;' DC. Prodr. 7. 331) ; Pretl. Monogr. Label.; Alph. DC. in Ann. Sc. 2. Set: xii. Hi). 



Diagnosis. — Campanal Exogens, with a 2- or more-celled ovary, syngenesious anthers, a 

 stigma surrounded by hairs, and a valvate irregular corolla. 



Herbaceous plants or shrubs, with milky juice. Leaves alternate, without stipules. 

 Flowers axillary or terminal. Calyx superior, 5-lobed or entire. Corolla monopetalous, 



1 Fig. CC'CCLXV. 4 5 2 



in {estivation somewhat valvate, irregular, inserted in the calyx, 5-lobed or deeply 5-cleft. 

 Stamens 5, inserted into the calyx alternately with the lobes of the corolla ; anthers 

 cohering ; pollen oval. Ovary inferior, with from 1 to 3 cells ; ovules very numerous, 

 either attached to the axis, or parietal ; style simple, stigma surrounded by a cup-like fringe. 

 Fruit capsular, 1- or more-celled, many-seeded, dehiscing at the apex. Seeds attached 

 either to the lining or the axis of the pericarp ; embryo straight, in the axis of fleshy 

 albumen ; radicle longer than the cotyledons, pointing to the hilum. 



The plants of this Order at first sight appear to be very different from Composites, but 

 they in fact participate in all the analogies of Bellworts, and perhaps are yet more 

 nearly related to Composites even than that Order, especially in their syngenesious 

 anthers and in the irregularity of their corolla, which is split so that the segments cohere 

 on one side like the .5 segments which make up the ligulate floret of a Composite. The 

 stigma is surrounded by hairs, which are probably analogous to the collectors of Bellworts, 

 to which Lobeliads approach closely, as well as to Goodeniads, whose indusium and 

 induplicate corolla offer the main features of distinction. The Clintonese are remarkable 

 for a one-celled ovary with parietal placentae ; a few species have polypetalous flowers, 

 and one species of Lobelia is said to be dicecious ! 



Unlike Bellworts, these seem to prefer countries within or upon the border of the 

 tropics to such as have a colder character. We find them abounding in the West 

 Indies, Brazil, the Himalayan region, the Cape of Good Hope, and the Sandwich Islands; 

 and they are not uncommon in Chile and New Holland. 



All the species are dangerous or suspicious, in consequence of the excessive acridity 

 of their milk. Siphocampylus Caoutchouc is so named by the inhabitants of Popayan 

 from the tenacity of its juice. Tupa Feuillsei yields a dangerous poison in Chile. The 

 most active article of the North American Materia Medica is said to be the Lobelia 

 i n data ; it possesses an emetic, sudorific, and powerful expectorant effect; when given 

 with a view to empty the stomach it operates vehemently and speedily; producing, how- 

 ever, great relaxation, debility, and perspiration, and even death, if given in over-doses. 

 The anti-syphilitic virtues ascribed to Lobelia syphilitica are supposed to have resided 

 in its diuretic property; they are, however, generally discredited. Isotoma longiflora, a 

 native of some of the West India Islands, is one of the most venomous of plants ; the 

 Spanish Americans call it Prebenta Cavallos, because it proves fatal to horses that eat it, 

 swelling them until they burst : taken internally, it acts as a violent cathartic, the effects 

 of which no remedy can assuage, and which end in death ; the leaves are active vesi- 



Fig. CCCCLXV. Lobelia syphilitica, 

 of the ovary ; 4 and 5 stigmas. 



1. an entire flower ; "-•. the stamens ; 3. perpendicular suction 



