LOBELIACEJ3. (LOBELIA FAMILY.) 241 



# * Pappus tawny : corolla pale blue, or cream-color turning bluish. 

 3. M". leucoph&lim, DC. Nearly smooth ; stem tall (3 -12 high), 

 very leafy ; leaves irregularly pinnatifid, sometimes runcinate, coarsely toothed, 

 the uppermost often undivided ; heads in a large and dense compound panicle 

 @ Low grounds ; common. Aug. Lower leaves often 1 long. 



M. PULCHELLUM, Nutt., of the plains of the Northwest, is to be expected in 

 Wisconsin. 



83. SON CHITS, L. SOW-THISTLE. 



Heads many-flowered, becoming tumid at the base. Involucre more or less 

 imbricated. Achenia flattened laterally, ribbed or striate, not beaked. Pappus 

 copious, of very white exceedingly soft and fine capillary bristles. Leafy- 

 stemmed weeds, chiefly smooth and glaucous, with corymbed or umbellate 

 heads of yellow flowers. (The ancient Greek name.) 



* Annual : flowers pale yellow. 



1. S. OLERACEUS, L. (COMMON SOW-THISTLE.) Stem-leaves runcinate- 

 pinnatifid, or rarely undivided, slightly toothed with soft spiny teeth, clasping 

 by a heart-shaped base, the auricles acute ; involucre downy when young ; acke- 

 nia striate, wrinkled transversely. Waste places in manured soil and around 

 dwellings. (Nat. from Eu.) 



2. S. ASPER, Vill. (SPINY-LEAVED SOW-THISTLE.) Stem-leaves mostly 

 undivided, conspicuously spiny-toothed, the auricles of the clasping base round- 

 ed ; achenia margined, 3-nerved on each side, smooth. Waste places, like the last, 

 and much resembling it. (Nat. from Eu.) 



* * Perennial: flowers bright yellow. (Heads large.) 



3. S. ARVENSIS, L. (CORN SOW-THISTLE.) Leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, 

 spiny-toothed, clasping by a heart-shaped base, the auricles obtuse ; peduncles 

 and involucre bristly; achenia transversely wrinkled on the ribs. Essex 

 County, Massachusetts, Staten Island, and New Jersey: rare. Sept. (Adv 

 from Eu.) 



ORDER 60. LOBELIACE^E. (LOBELIA FAMILY.) 



Herbs, with milky juice, alternate leaves, and scattered flowers, an irregular 

 monopetalous 5-lobed corolla split down to the base on one side : the 5 stamens 

 free from the corolla, and united into a tube commonly by their filaments and 

 always by their anthers. Calyx-tube adherent to the many-seeded pod. 

 Style 1 : stigma fringed. Seeds anatropous, with a small straight embryo, 

 in copious albumen. A family of acrid poisonous plants, represented only 

 by the genus 



1. LOBELIA, L. LOBELIA. 



Calyx 5-cleft, with a short tube. Corolla with a straight tube, split down on 

 the upper side, somewhat 2-lipped ; the upper lip of 2 rather erect lobes, the 

 lower spreading and 3-cleft. Two of the anthers in our species bearded at the 

 21 



