PLATE DCXLIV. 



LOBELIA SPECULUM. 



LobeVs Venus s Loo kin or- a lass. 



CLASS XIX. ORDER VI. 



SYNGENESIA MONOGAMIA. Tips united. Flowers simple. 



ESSENTIAL GENERIC CHARACTER. 



Calyx 5-fidus. Corolla 1-petala, irregularis. 

 Capsula infera, 2- seu 3-locularis. 



Cup 5-cleft. Blossom 1-petalled, irregular. Cap- 

 sule beneath, 2- or 3-celIed. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTER. 



Lobelia foliis linearibus, integerrimis, superne 

 acutis, ad basin dentatis, et ad apicemlatio- 

 ribus: coroUis atro-purpureis, laciniis sub- 

 equalibus : fnitex pygmeus, ramulis nume- 

 rosis tenuissimis patentibus. 



Lobelia with linear leaves, entire, and pointed 

 on the upper part of the plant, but toothed 

 on the lower part, and broader at the end : 

 Blossoms of a dark purple colour, with 

 nearly equal segments. A dwarf shrub, with 

 numerous slender spreading branches. 



REFERENCE TO THE PLATE. 



1. A. blossom spread open. 



2. The empalement, chives, and pointal, tips and summit magnified. 



Of this perfectly new species of Lobelia we do not find either figure or description in any author an- 

 cient or modem. The resemblance it bears to the Campujiula Speculum, or Bell-flowered Venus's Looking- 

 glass, induced us to give it the same specific title. It is a delicate slender little annual, with an abundant 

 succession of dark purple flowers, which appear to great advantage when the sun shines. In the regu- 

 larity of its corolla it differs essentially from the genus Lobelia, and in a manuscript of the late Dr. So- 

 lander we find an intention to separate it by the generic title of Specularc. 



