406 LOBELIACEAE lobelia 



HOWELLIA 



LOBELIA L. Gen. n. 1099. 



Herbs, or rarely shrubs with alternate leaves, and red, yellow, 

 blue or white flowers. Calyx-tube turbinate, hemispheric or 

 ovoid, adnate to the ovary. Corolla-tube divided to the base on 

 one side ; the limb bilabiate, the lobe on each side of the cleft 

 turning away from the other three, which are somewhat united. 

 Stamens free from the corolla-tube, monadelphous, at least above, 

 2 or all of the 5 anthers with a tufb of hairs at their tips, 3 of them 

 usually larger than the other 2. Ovary 3-celled, the 2 placentae 

 many-ovuled. Stigma 3-ldbed. Capsule loculicidally 3-valved. 



L. Dortmanna L. Sp. 929. Aquatic perennial: glabrous throughout: 

 stem slender, simple, erect, hollow, naked except a few fleshy bracts, 6-18 

 inches high : leaves all submerged and tufted at the base of the stem, 

 terete, obtuse, 1-2 inches long, hollow and longitudinally divided by a 

 partition : flowers blue, in a loose terminal raceme, 6-8 lines long, on fili- 

 form pedicels : calyx-lobes subulate : larger lip of the corolla glabrous or 

 nearly so. Borders of ponds, northwestern Washington to subarctic 

 America and the Northeastern States. 



2 HOWELLIA Gray Proc. Am. Acad, xv, 43. 

 Aquatic or semi-aquatic herbs with alternate leaves, at least 

 below, and small white flowers. Flowers of 2 forms : the emersed 

 with conspicuous corolla, the submersed with corolla undeveloped. 

 Calyx with slender tube, adnate for its whole length to the ovary, 

 and a limb of 5 nearly equal narrow lobes. Corolla not surpass- 

 ing the calyx, its very short tube split nearly to the base on one 

 side; its 5 lobes almost equal. Stamen-tube nearly free, and 

 with the included style slightly incurved. Anthers oval, the two 

 smaller trisetulose; the three larger naked. Ovary strictly 1- 

 celled, with two filiform parietal placentae, each 3-5-ovulate,,upper 

 ovules ascending, the lower pendulous. Capsule membranaceous, 

 at maturity bursting irregularly on one side. Seeds few, large, 

 smooth, callous-apiculate at the chalaza. 



H. aquatilis Gray 1. c. Aquatic annual : stem weak, 6-18 inches high, 

 branching: submersed leaves linear-setaceous, 2-6 inches long, entire; 

 emersed leaves linear to oblong, sometimes sparingly toothed : flowers ax- 

 illary, short-peduncled ; calyx-lobes subulate or filiform, 3-4 lines long; 

 corolla white, its lobes oblong: capsule half-inch long, linear-clavate, bear- 

 ing a few soft white seeds. In ponds, in the vicinity of Portland, Oregon. 



3 LAURENTIA Neck. Elem. i, 131. 



Small and diffuse or creeping herbs with alternate leaves and 

 axillary blue flowers. Calyx-tube and adnate ovary turbinate or 

 oblong, the 5 lobes narrow. Corolla with tube as long as the 

 limb, and not split; its larger lip 3-cleft and widely spreading; 

 the smaller of two more erect or diverging divisions. Filaments 

 and anthers completely united ; two of the latter minutely bristle- 

 tufted at the apex, nearly included. Capsule 3-valved across the 

 projecting free apex, 2-celled. Seeds oblong or almost fusiform. 



L. camosula Benth. Glabrous somewhat succulent annual : stems 1-5 



