LOBELIACE^E. 



417 



Seeds numerous, attached to an 

 axile placenta; embryo straight, 

 in the axis of a fleshy albumen. 



Fig. 187. 



An order of herbs or suffru- 

 ticose plants, yielding a white, 

 milky juice. The leaves are 

 mostly alternate, simple, or 

 deeply divided, and exstipu- 

 late. They are chiefly na- 

 tives of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and are scarcely 

 known in hot climates. Many, 

 however, are found at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. A. De 

 Candolle states that of three 

 hundred species, only nineteen 

 are natives of the tropics, and 

 that, with a single exception, 

 all the species of the northern 

 hemisphere open their cap- 

 sule by iateral apertures, 

 whilst those with an apicial 

 dehiscence inhabit the south- 

 ern. 



The most striking character 

 is the acrid, milky juice ; but 

 the roots and young shoots of 

 some of these plants are used 

 for food. The chief value of 

 them are as ornaments to the 

 garden, for which purpose 

 many of them are cultivated. 

 Some of them have, however, been used in medicine. The roots of Phy- 

 teuma are said to be antisyphilitic, and a species of the Alps is stated by 

 Dr. Larbalestier (Mem. Soc. Roy. Med. 343) to be beneficial in cancerous 

 affections. It is sudorific and purgative. The young shoots of Canarina 

 campanula are employed as an article of food in the Canary Islands. 

 Among the species of Campanula, the C. glomerata is stated by Martius 

 (Bull. Sci. Med., xiii. 354) to be valued in Russia as efficacious in hydro- 

 phobia. The roots of several of them, as C. liliifolia, C. rapuncidus, and C. 

 trachelium are also eaten. The latter plant is also considered to be astrin- 

 gent and vulnerary. That of C. glauca is in high repute in Japan, where it 

 is considered to be scarcely inferior in tonic powers to the ginseng. Wah- 

 lenbergia graminifolia is used in the south of Europe as a remedy in epi- 

 lepsy; and XV. linarioides is thought efficacious in tormina by the natives of 

 Chili. 



Order 63.— LOBELIACE^E.— Jussieu. 



Calyx 5-lobed, more or less adherent to the ovary. Corolla persistent, irregularly 5- 

 cleft, usually appearing bilabiate, cleft on one side nearly or quite to the base. Stamens 

 5 ; the upper part of the filaments and the anthers coherent into a tube ; pollen ovoid. 

 Ovary inferior or semi-superior, supporting a single style with a fringed stigma. Fruit 

 capsular, 2 — 3 rarely 1-celled, usually dehiscing at the apex. Seeds numerous, with a 

 fleshy albumen and straight embryo. 



27 



Campanula. 



