Laurentia. LOBELIACEyE. 



443 



2. S. asper, Villars. Like the preceding or taller : leaves more strongly and 

 rigidly spiny-toothed, and the anricles of the clasping base rounded : pedicels more 

 commonly ghindnlar-bristly : akenes sharp-edged, smooth. 



Waste places, not only aromid towns but also far in the interior. 



3. S. tenerrimus, Linn. Slender : leaves pinnately parted, mainly into linear 

 or narrowly lanceolate divisions, merely spinulose denticulate along the margins : 

 heads rather few: akenes narrow and thickish, rugose-scabrous. — Torr. & Gray, 

 n. ii. 500. /?. tenuifolms, Nutt. in Trans. Am. Phil. Soc. n. ser. vii. 438. 



Around San Diego, Nuttall. Doubtless introduced from the south of Europe. Apparently 

 not since collected. 



Order LII. LOBELIACE^. 



Herbs, mostly -with milky juice, alternate simple leaves, and scattered or race- 

 mose flowers, the calyx adnate to the whole or the lower half of the ovary, and 

 stamens usually free from the corolla ; distinguished from Camjmnulacere (to which 

 the order is now commonly reduced) by the irregular corolla and both monadel- 

 phous and (usually) syngenesious stamens. — Flowers perfect. Limb of the calyx 

 divided down to the ovary into 5 lobes. Corolla inserted just where the calyx 

 separates from the ovary, variously lobed or cleft ; the lobes valvate or lightly 

 imbricated in the bud, two of them usually different from the others in size or 

 shape and union, so that the limb appears bilabiate. Stamens 5, alternate with the 

 lobes of the corolla : filaments united into a tube above the base and commonly to 

 the top : anthers 2-celled, introrsely dehiscent, firmly united into a ring, except in 

 the anomalous Nemadadus. Ovary 2-celled with axile, or 1-celled Avith parietal 

 placentae : ovules numerous, anatropous : style entire : stigma commonly 2-lol)ed 

 and girt with a ring of hairs. Fruit in ours a many-seeded capsule. Embryo small 

 in the axis of fleshy albumen. Juice more or less acrid. 



The large and widely distributed genus Lobelia (of about 200 species) is strangely absent from 

 California and the whole Pacific North American coast ; but it is sparingly represented by one 

 Laurentia, which differs in not having the tube of the corolla split down one (the apiiareutly 

 upper) side. — See Appendix. 



Tribe I. LOBELIE.E. Anthers as well as filaments united around the style. Corolla as it 

 were 2-lipped, two of the lobes smaller and more separated from the other uiuteil three, 

 erect or divergent. 



1. Laurentia. Corolla with a rather long entire tube. Capside 2-valve(l across the top. 



2. Downingia. Corolla with very short entire tube. Cai)sule linear and elongated, opening 



down the sides by one to three long fissures, one-celled. 



Tkii'.e II. CYPHIEiE. Anthers separate, and filaments partly so. 



3. Nemacladus. Corolla narrow ; one lip of two almost distiuct petals, the other of three more 



united ones. Capsule 2-valved at the top. 



1. LAURENTIA, Midieli. 

 Calyx-tube and adnate ovary top-shaped or oblong ; the 5 lobes narrow. Corolla 

 with tube as long as the limb, not split down ; its larger and 3-cleft lip widely 

 spreading ; the smaller of 2 more erect or diverging divisions. Filaments and 

 anthers completely united ; two of the latter minutely bristle-tufted at the apex, 

 nearly inchided. Stigma more or less 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved across the pro- 

 jecting free apex, 2-celled. Seeds oblong ox almost fusiform. — Low and diffuse or 



