444 LOBELIACE^E. Laurentia. 



creeping small herbs, resembling Lobelias, with axillary blue flowers. — Benth.. & 

 Hook. Gen. PI. ii. 549. 



1. L. carnosula, Benth. A glabrous diffusely branched or spreading annual, 

 somewhat succulent, 2 to 5 inches high : leaves sessile, oblong-linear or lanceolate, 

 entire, a quarter to half an inch long : peduncles filiform, even the lower much 

 longer than the leaves, the upper becoming corymbose or racemose : lobes of the 

 calyx linear, foliaceous, about the length of the obconical tube and fully equalling 

 that of the corolla : larger lip of the latter deeply 3-cleft into roundish-obovate lobes, 

 bright blue, with the 2-ridged palate yellow or whitish ; the smaller lip of 2 lanceo- 

 late lobes. — Lobelia carnosula, Hook. & Arn. Bot. Beechey, 362, where the undi- 

 vided corolla-tube is unnoticed. Porterella camulosa (by misspelling), Torr. in Cat. 

 PL Hayden Bep. 1872, 488 ; Parry in Am. Nat. viii. 177. 



Low and muddy places, in Sierra and Indian Valleys (Lemmon) ; thence northeastward to Wyo- 

 ming Territory. A pretty little plant, in aspect and flower resembling the next genus, and the 

 corolla in vigorous specimens not much smaller ; known at once by the short and broad capsule 

 opening at the top. The late Dr. Torrey dedicated it to Prof. Thomas C. Porter, one of the 

 authors of the Flora of Colorado Territory ; but it proves to belong to a very old genus, chiefly 

 of the Mediterranean region and Southern Africa. 



2. DOWNINGIA, Torr. 



Calyx-tube and adnate ovary very long and slender, stalk-like, 3-sided, usually 

 twisted ; its limb divided down to the ovary into 5 lanceolate or linear foliaceous 

 lobes. Corolla with a very short but entire tube, and a bilabiate limb ; the smaller 

 lip of two narrow recurved or spreading divisions, the other very broad and 3-lobed. 

 Filaments and anthers both united into a somewhat curved tube : two of the latter 

 bristle-tipped. Capsule very long and slender, early becoming 1-celled, with two 

 parietal filiform placentae, remaining closed at the apex, but the sides dehiscent by 

 two or three long fissures. Seeds as in the foregoing genus. — Low and spreading 

 glabrous annuals (of Oregon and California, and a third species in Chili), rather 

 succulent or tender ; with sessile and narrow entire leaves, the upper ones reduced 

 to bracts, and axillary sessile flowers ; the corolla deep blue with a white or yellow- 

 ish centre. — Torr. in Pacif. B. Bep. iv. 116; Benth. & Hook. 1. c. Clintonia, 

 Dough, not of Eaf. 



Under the name of Clintonia our two species have come into cultivation as ornamental annuals, 

 but are rather difficult to manage. A new name being required, Dr. Torrey dedicated the genus 

 to the memory of his friend, the late' Andrew Jackson Downing, of New York, whose treatise 

 upon landscape gardening and other horticultural and arboricultural writings are still of sterling 

 value. 



1. D. elegans, Torr. Leaves acute, varying from ovate to lanceolate : smaller 

 lip of the corolla of two lanceolate divisions, the broad lip moderately 3-lobed, its 

 centre a broad white spot. — Clintonia elegans, Lindl. Bot. Beg. t. 1241. 



Northern part of California, and through Oregon. C. corymbosa, A. DC. Prodr. vii. 347, is a 

 stouter and more leafy-stemmed variety, the ovary little longer than the subtending leaf. Ordi- 

 narily the slender and stalk-like ovary or capsule is over an inch in length, and the upper floral 

 leaves so small that the inflorescence is like a raceme. 



2. D. pulchella, Torr. Very like the foregoing, but the leaves mostly nar- . 

 rower and obtuse : the two divisions of the smaller lip ovate-lanceolate or oblong, 

 the larger lip much dilated and deeply 3-lobed, intensely azure-blue with a large 

 white or yellowish centre. — Clintonia pulchella, Lindl. Bot. Beg. t. 1909; Sweet, 

 Brit. Fl. Gard. ser. 2, t. 412. 



Valley of the Sacramento to Oregon and Nevada. Plant 3 to 6 inches high, rather more fleshy, 

 weak. Both species inhabit moist or wet places. 



