8 LOBELIACE^. Palmerella. 



subulate as long as the pedicels : corolla pale blue or whitish, 2 lines long, hardly sur- 

 passing the subulate-linear calyx-lobes : turgid capsule oval, 4 lines long, glabrous, trans- 

 versely veiny between the ribs : seeds oblong, roughish and reticulated. — Act. Ups. 1741 

 23, t. 1 ; Schk. Handb. t. 269 ; Barton, Med. t. 16 ; Bigelow, Med. t. 19 ; Torr. Fl. N. Y. t. 63! 

 — Open rather dry grounds, Hudson's Bay to Saskatchewan, and to Georgia and Ar- 

 kansas. Herbage very acrid, formerly much employed in empirical medicine ; an acrid- 

 narcotic poison. 



3. PALMERELLA, Gray. (Named for the discoverer, Br. Edward 

 Palmer.) — A single species. — Proc. Am. Acad. xi. 81, & Bot. Calif, i. 619. 



P. debilis, G-ray, 1. *-■■ A glabrous apparently perennial herb : stems simple or branched 

 above, 2 feet high, slender and rather weak or spreading, very leafy : cauline leaves lan- 

 ceolate or linear-lanceolate, about 2 inches long, entire or remotely denticulate, very 

 acute ; the uppermost patssing into f oliaceous or at length slender-subulate bracts of the 

 few-many-flowered raceme : pedicels rather slender : lobes of the calyx slender or seta- 

 ceous-subulate, much longer than the tube, about half the length of the tube of the blue 

 corolla. — In the Tantillas Canon, just below San Diego Co., California, Palmer. Corolla- 

 tube whitish, three-fourths of an inch long, tomentose within, in age disposed to split up 

 from below as in most Lobelias, and the filaments then separating, the sinus between the 

 small lobes completely closed, and the filaments most adnate on that side : three larger 

 lobes deep violet-blue, 3 or 4 lines long. Mature fruit not seen. 



Var. serrata, Gray ; a form with inflorescence and tube of the corolla somewhat 

 puberulent ; all but the upper leaves acutely serrate ; the lowest broader, spatulate and 

 obovate. — Bot. Calif. 1. c. ; Rothrock in Wheeler Eep. 1877, t. 16. — Valley of Ojai Creek, 

 Ventura Co., California, Rothrock. 



4. LAURENTIA, Micheli. (In honor of M. A. Laurenti, Professor at 

 Bologna early in the 18th century.) — Low herbs, with the aspect and characters 

 of the small species of Lobelia, excepting the closed tube of the corolla: flowers 

 blue. Mainly S. Europe, Africa, and S. America : some have ovary almost free. 

 — A.DC. Prodr. vii. 409; Benth. & Hook. Gen. ii. 549. Porterella, Torr. in 

 Hayden Rep. 1872, 488. 



L. camosula, Benth. Annual, rooting in the mud, glabrous, 1 to 5 inches high, rather 

 succulent : leaves oblong-linear or lanceolate, entire, sessile, a quarter to half inch long : flowers 

 axillary and above corymbose or racemose, long-pedicelled : calyx-lobes somewhat f oliaceous, 

 linear, obtuse, equalling the oblong-obconical or clavate tube, and also that of the corolla : 

 seeds elongated-oblong, smooth. — Gray, Bot. Calif, i. 444. Lobelia carnosula, Hook. & Am. 

 Bot. Beech. 362. Porterella carnosula (carnulosa), Torr. 1. e. ; Parry in Am. Nat. viii. 177. — 

 Muddy borders of ponds and streams, from California in the Sierra Nevada to Utah and 

 Wyoming. Limb of corolla deep blue with a white or yellowish throat ; three larger lobes 

 round-obovate, 2 or 3 lines long ; the other two small and lanceolate. 



5. DCWNiNG-IA, Torr. (In memory of A. J. Downing, distinguished in 

 landscape gardening, pomology, and horticulture.) — Low and mostly showy- 

 flowered annuals (of Oregon, California, and one in Chili) ; with entire and ses- 

 sile slightly succulent small leaves, the upper passing into bracts to the axillary 

 sessile flowers, which, on account of the very long and slender calyx-tube and 

 ovary, seem to be racemose or corymbose. Corolla blue, with white or yellowish 

 throat or broad blotch on the large lip. Capsule sometimes twisted. Seeds oblong, 

 very smooth. — Pacif. R. Rep. iv. 116; Benth. & Hook. I.e. Clintonia, Doug].; 

 Lhidl. Bot. Reg. t. 1241. 



D. elegans, Torr. Stems a span to a foot long : leaves from ovate to lanceolate, acute 

 (4 to 10 lines long) : larger lip of the corolla moderately 3-lobed, the other lobes lanceolate : 

 seeds short-oblong. — Clintonia elegans, Dougl. ; Lindl. Bot. Reg. 1. 1241. C. corymbosa, A.DC. 

 Prodr. vii. 347, a more leafy form. — Wet ground, N. California to Washington Terr., and 



