206 WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



clothed when young with a loose flocculent white torucntum ; involucre tumid and orbicular 

 at base, abruptly contracted above to an acumiixation. 

 Gardens and cultivated grounds. August -September. 



Obs. Besides the above, the Spiny-leaved Sow-thistle (S. as' per, L.) is 

 frequently met with ; it has prickly toothed leaves, those of the stem 

 clasping it by conspicuous rounded auricles ; and smooth, nerved akenes. 

 A perennial species (S. arven'sis, L.) with very large flowers, is sparingly 

 introduced along 1 the sea-coast. 



ORDER XLI. LOBELIA'CEJE. (LOBELIA FAMILY.) 



Herbs with milky juice, alternate leaves, and scattered powers (i. e. not heads). Calyx-tube 

 more or less adherent to the ovary. Corolla tubular, irregularly 5-lobed. slit longitudi- 

 nally, nearly or quite to the base on one side. Stamens 5, united into a tube by their an- 

 thers, and more or less completely by thoir filaments ; free from the corolla. Heeds nume- 

 rous with fleshy albumen. The plants of this family are generally acrid and poisonous. 



1. LOBB'LIA, L. LOBELIA. 



[Named in honor of Matthias de Label, a Flemish Botanist.] 



Cdyx 5-lobed ; the sinuses sometimes with an appendage ; tube short, 

 tumid. Corolla tubular, the tube cylindric or funnel-form, cleft on the 

 upper side nearly to the base ; limb somewhat bilabiate, the upper lip 

 mostly smaller and erect the lower one broader, spreading, 3-cleft or 3- 

 toothed. Anthers coherent in a tube, the 2 lower ones bearded at 

 apex. Pod 2-celled, many-seeded, opening at the top. Flowers race- 

 mose-spicate, of various colors usually blue or red. 



L L. infla'ta, L. Stem erect, hirsute, paniculately branched ; leaves 

 subsessile, lance-ovate, crenate-dentate, pilose ; racemes leafy ; flowers 

 small, axillary ; calyx-tube ovoid, smoothish, the segments as long as the 

 corolla, the sinuses not appeudaged ; capsule ovoid or oval, inflated. 



INFLATED LOBELIA. Eye-bright. Indian Tobacco. 



Root annual or biennial. Stem 9-18 inches high, sometimes angled or slightly winged 

 by the decurrenco of the leaves, often very hairy ; branches axillary. Leaves 1-3 in- 

 ches long, more or less ovate, unequally sinuate-dentate or crenate. Peduncles one-fourth 

 to half an inch long. Corolla pale blue, rather inconspicuous. Capsule thin and mcm- 

 branaceous, smoothish. Seeds minute, elliptic-oblong, rough with ferruginous reticulated 

 ridges. 



Pastures, road-sides, &c. : Canada to South Carolina. Fl. July - September. Fr. Au- 

 gust-October. 



066'. This is an acrid plant, possessing emetic, cathartic, and nar- 

 cotic properties ; and is somewhat notorious for the use made of it by a 

 tribe of reckless modern Empirics. It is frequent in our pastures, in the 

 latter part of cummer, and has been suspected of causing the ptyalism 

 or slabbering of horses so often observable at that season. I cannot, 

 however, help doubting the correctness of the opinion ; for the horse is 

 a dainty animal in the selection of his food. I have often remarked the 

 care and dexterity with which he separates the palatable herbage from 

 that which is not so ; and have never seen him eat, nor even crop, so 



