Vol. III.] 



BELLFLOWER FAMILY. 



257 



3. LOBELIA L. Sp. PI. 929. 1753. 

 Herbs (some tropical species shrubs), with alternate or basal leaves, and racemose spi- 

 cate or paniculate, often leafy bracted, red yellow blue or white flowers. Calyx-tube turbi- 

 nate, hemispheric or ovoid, adnate to the ovary. Corolla-tube straight, oblique, or incurved, 

 divided to the base on one side, 2-lipped in our species, the lobe on each side of the cleft 

 erect or recurved, turned away from the other three which are somewhat united, the sinuses 

 inclining to extend to the base of the corolla at maturity so as to divide it into 5 petals. 

 Stamens free from the corolla-tube, mona.delphous, at least above, two or all the 5 anthers 

 with a tuft of hairs at the tips, three of them usually larger than the other two, all united 

 into a tube or ring around the style. Ovary 2-celled, the 2 placentae many-ovuled; stigma 

 2-lobed or 2-cleft. Capsule loculicidally 2-valved. [Named after Matthias de L'Obel, 153S- 

 1616, a Flemish botanist.] 



About 225 species of wide geographic distribution. Besides the following, some 12 others occur 

 in the southern and western United States. 



X- Aquatic; stems simple, nearly naked; flowers light blue. 

 Leaves terete, hollow, obtuse, all tufted at the base. 

 Leaves flat, linear-oblong or spatulate, entire or glandular-denticulate. 



X- r Terrestrial plants of wet or dry soil; stems leafy. 

 1. Corolla-tube 5" -12" long. 

 Flowers bright scarlet (rarely white); corolla-tube io"-I2" long. 



L. 

 L. 



Dortmanna. 

 paludosa. 



-7" long. 



3. L. cardinalis. 



4- 

 5- 

 6. 



7- 



L. syphilitica. 

 L. amoena. 

 L. puberida. 

 L. glanduosa. 



L. 

 L. 



s pi cat a. 

 leptostachys. 



10. L. inflata. 



11. L. Kalmii. 



L. Nuttallii. 

 L. Canbyi. 



Flowers blue, white, or blue and white; corolla-tube 5" 

 Leaves ovate, lanceolate, or the lower ones obovate. 

 Leaves glabrous or sparingly pubescent. 



Calyx-lobes hirsute; sinuses with large deflexed auricles. 

 Calyx-lobes glabrous or glandular, usually without auricles. 

 Leaves densely puberulent; calyx hirsute; auricles small. 

 Leaves elongated-linear, strongly glandular-denticulate. 



2. Corolla-tube only 2"-4" long. 

 Stems mostly simple: flowers in terminal spike-like racemes. 

 Sinuses of the calyx without auricles. 

 Sinuses of the calyx with reflexed subulate auricles. 

 Stems mostly paniculately branched; flowers in loose racemes. 

 Stem stout, pubescent; leaves ovate or oblong, dentate. 

 Stems slender, glabrous; stem-leaves narrow, the basal wider. 



Pedicels mostly longer than flowers, 2-bracteolate near the middle. 

 Pedicels not longer than flowers, not bracteolate, or only so at the base. 

 Corolla 2 1 A"-t, 1 A" long; calyx-tube hemispheric in fruit. 

 Corolla 4^"-5^" long; calyx-tube turbinate. 



i. Lobelia Dortmanna L. Water Lobelia. 

 Water Gladiole. (Fig. 3500. ) 



Lobelia Dortmanna L- Sp. PI. 929. 1753. 



Perennial, aquatic, glabrous throughout, somewhat 

 fleshy; roots numerous, white, fibrous; stem slender, sim- 

 ple, erect, hollow, minutely scaly, 6 / -i8 / high. Leaves all 

 submersed and tufted at the base of the stem, terete, hol- 

 low, obtuse, longitudinally divided by a partition, i / -2 / 

 long, about 2" thick; flowers in a loose terminal raceme, 

 blue, 6 // -S // long; pedicels filiform, shorter than or equal- 

 ling the flowers; calyx-lobes subulate or lanceolate, the 

 sinuses usually not at all appendaged; corolla-tube 3 // -4 // 

 long, its lower lip glabrous or nearly so. 



Borders of ponds, usually in sandy soil, sometimes wholly 

 emersed when the water is low, New Jersey and Pennsylvania 

 to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Northwest Territory. 

 Also in Europe. July-Sept. 



2. Lobelia paludosa Nutt. Swamp Lobelia. 

 (Fig. 3501.) 



Lobelia paludosa Nutt. Gen. 2: 75. 1818. 



Perennial, aquatic, glabrous throughout; roots few and 

 thick; stem nearly naked, slender, simple, or branched 

 above, i-4 high. Leaves flat, narrowly oblong or 

 spatulate, emersed, obtuse or acutish, entire or repand- 

 denticulate and glandular, those of the stem few, small 

 and sessile, the basal ones 2 / -o/ long, 2 // -4 // wide, nar- 

 rowed into petioles; flowers pale blue, racemose, 5 // -6 // 

 long; calyx-lobes narrowly lanceolate, the sinuses com- 

 monly not at all appendaged; corolla-tube 3 // -4 // long, 

 its lower lip pubescent at the base. 



In swamps and ponds, Delaware to Florida and Louisiana, 

 mostly near the coast. May-July. 



17 



