ITO 



DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



Use. — The coloring matter of the safflower is used in cosmetics for delicate 

 red tints. Its principal value is as a dye. The Chinese, by the use of mor- 

 dants, alkalies, and acids, produce from this plant the delicate rose, scarlet, 

 purple, and violet colors that make their silks so valuable. The Spaniards 

 employ the flowers to color their soups. The Poles mix them with their bread 

 and cakes. The seed is a valuable food for parrots and other caged birds ; 

 domestic fowls eat it greedily, and fatten rapidly when fed upon it. The 

 yellow coloring-matter is an extract, but the red is known to the chemist 

 under the name of carthamine. 



As a medicine the safflower is purgative when taken in large doses. The 

 seeds yield an oil which is prescribed as a remedy for rheumatism and 

 paralysis. 



Order XXXI. CAMPANULACE-a3. (Bell Flower.) 



Flowers superior, 5-merous, symmetrical ; perianth and stamens 

 adhering to the ovary ; anthers distinct or united ; ovary usually 

 2-3-celled ; seeds numerous. Herbs or shrubs, with milky juice. 

 Leaves usually alternate, exstipulate. 



No. of genera, 53. 



LOBELIA, L. Calyx 5-parted ; tube short, egg-shaped ; corolla irreg- 

 ular, 2-lipped, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-cleft ; stigma 2-lobed ; 



seed-vessels 2-celled, many-seeded, 

 opening above. Leaves alternate. 

 Biennial. 



1. L. inflata, L. (Indian Tobacco. 

 Emetic Weed.) Stem 10 to 20 inches 

 in height, much-branched, clothed with 

 hairs. Leaves ovate or lanceolate, irreg- 

 ularly toothed, sessile, lower ones blunt 

 at the apex. Inflorescence a paniculated 

 leafy raceme. Flowers pale-blue, on short 

 pedicels, lobes of the calyx as long as the 

 corolla ; pods inflated. Flowers in July. 



2. L cardinalis, L. (Cardinal Flower.) 

 Stem simple, erect, 1 to 2 feet high, 

 pubescent. Leaves lanceolate, pointed at 

 each end, 3 inches long, pubescent and 

 toothed. Flowers scarlet, in a terminal 

 lengthened raceme, 1-sided, pedicels 

 shorter than the bracts ; stamens exsert, 

 color deep flaming red, very showy. 

 Damp grounds throughout the north- 

 eastern States. Easily cultivated. 



3. L. syphilitica, L. (Blue Cardinal 

 Flower. Great Lobelia.) Like the 



last, except in the color of the flower, which is bright blue, rarely white. 

 Wet grounds by the roadsides, common in the northeastern states. Bears 

 cultivation. 



Lobelia inflata (Emetic Weed). 



