Lobelia.] LXvm. CAMPANtJLACfi^. 919 



tube slit open on the upper side, the lobes obovate-oblong, nearly equal, but 

 oblique. Anthers in the males slightly pubescent, the upper ones without 

 terminal tufts, the 2 lower tipped by a very few small bristles ; the stamens 

 rudimentary in the females. Stigma in the males small and entire, and the 

 ovules abortive, but in the females the stigma is broadly 2-lobed as in other 

 Lobelias. Capsule obovoid-oblong, about 2 lines long, scarcely oblique. — 

 Moiiopsis dioica, Presl. Prod. Mon. Lob. 11 ; Holostigma dioicum, G. Don, Gen. 

 Syst. iii. 716, A. DC. Prod. vii. 852. 



Hab.: Gulf of Carpentaria, opposite Groote Island, R. Brown ; Gilbert Biver, Thof. Gulliver 

 (Fragm. x. 43). 



11. Ii. purpurascens (often purplish on back of leaf), R. Br. Prod. 568 ; 

 Benth M. Austr. iv. 131. The white underground running stems are long and 

 numerous. Quite glabrous. Stems, from a perennial rootstock, branched, 

 procumbent or ascending, angular, often above 1ft. long, but sometimes very 

 small and short. Leaves shortly petiolate or almost sessile, from ovate to 

 oblong-lanceolate, toothed, rather firm, usually from f to lin. long. Pedicels 

 axUlary, much longer than the leaves, often reflexed after flowering. Flowers 

 dioecious. Calyx -lobes narrow, acute, the tube very short or scarcely any in the 

 males, obconical and rather narrow in the females. Corolla 4 to 5 lines long, 

 the lower lobes oblong, obtuse, the 2 upper ones rather shorter narrower more 

 acute and incurved. Anthers in the males glabrous, without terminal tufts, 

 but the 2 lower tipped with 1 or 2 small bristles, smaller and without pollen or 

 abortive in the females. Stigma small and undivided, and ovules abortive in the 

 males, the stigma broadly 2-lobed in the females. Capsule narrow-ovoid, fully 

 8 lines long, the conical summit opening in 2 valves as in Lobelia ; the seeds 

 reticulate, rather large and often flattened as in Pratia. — A. DC. Prod. vii. 365 ; 

 Litho. PI. Vict, plate 50, according to F. v. M. this species includes L. ilicifolia, 

 Sima. Bot. Mag. 1896. 



Hab.: A common troublesome weed. 



The species has some resemblance with Patria erecta, but it is at once known by the long 

 usually recurved pedicels. 



Dr. Thos. L. Bancroft found this species to be equally poisonous with the Indian Tobacco, 

 Lobelia inHata, Linn. 



d. PRATIA, Gaudich. 



(After M. Prat-Bernon.) 



Calyx of Lobelia. Corolla slit open on the upper side, 5-lobed, the lobes nearly 

 equal but very oblique. Stamens of Lobelia. Ovary inferior, 2-celled, the 

 summit between the calyx-lobes nearly flat. Style and stigma of Lobelia. Fruit 

 ovoid or globular, crowned by the calyx-lobes, indehiscent, the pericarp usually 

 succulent.— Herbs, with the habit of the section Uefnipogon of Lobelia, usually 

 creeping at the base, the branches sometimes ascending. Flowers white (or 

 blue ?) on axillary pedicels, and in most of the Australian species more or less 

 dioecious, by the abortion or sterility of the anthers in the females, and of the 

 ovary, ovules, and stigma in the males. 



A small genus containing, besides the Australian species which are all endemic, five or six 

 others dispersed over New Zealand, antarctic and extratropieal South America. 

 Glabrous. Leaves ovate or oblong, toothed, J to lin. long. Pedicels shorter 



or scarcely longer than the leaves 1. P. erecta. 



Pubescent. Leaves ovate or orbicular. 

 Pedicels shorter or scarcely longer than the leaves. Fruit 2 to 3 lines 



diameter 2. P. pubemla. 



Pedicels much longer than the very small leaves. Fruit 1 to IJ line 



diameter B. P.pedunculata, 



