LOBELIA FAMILY. Lobeliaceae. 



LOBELIA FAMILY. I^obeliacece. 



A family of perennial herbs with milky acrid juice. 

 The perfect but irregular flowers with a fi ve-lobed tube- 

 shaped corolla ; the five stamens united in a tube. 

 Cross -fertilized by bees, the beelike flies, and the hum- 

 ming-bird. Named for De L'Obel, an early Dutch herb- 

 alist ; it now includes the tribe Campanulacece. 



A most beautiful species, remarkable for 

 Cardinal Flower . , , , , . . . , . _ 



Lobelia its rich, deep red which largely influences 



cardinalis the color of stem and foliage. The 



Deep red leaves are dark green, smooth or nearly 



August- so> o blong lance-shaped, and slightly 



September ,, . ., 



toothed ; the upper ones are stem less. 



The showy flower-spike is loosely set with deep cardinal 

 red flowers, the triple-lobed lips of which are a rich 

 velvety color. Rarely the plant produces deep pink or 

 white flowers. Fertilized by humming-birds, and rarely 

 by bumblebees ; but the long tongue of the humming- 

 bird is the only practicable means of cross-fertilization. 

 The length of the flower-tube is too great for the tongue, 

 and the pendant lip too inconvenient for the feet of the 

 average insect. The plant multiplies mostly by perennial 

 offshoots. 2-4 feet high. Common everywhere in low 

 moist ground. Found in Campton Bog, N. H. 



A slightly hairy plant with a stout, leafy, 

 Lobelia an ^ Usua -Hy simple stem ; the leaves light 



syphilitica green, 2-6 inches long, pointed at both 

 Light blue- ends, nearly if not quite smooth, irregu- 

 violet i arly t 00 thed, and stemless. The light 



September blue-violet or rarely white flowers nearly 



an inch long; the calyx stiff -hairy. 1-3 

 feet high. Common in low moist ground, from Me., 

 south to Ga. and La., and west to Kan., Neb. , and S. Dak. 

 A similar species with similarly colored 

 Downy Lobelia fl ow ers in long somewhat one-sided spikes, 

 puberula an( ^ w ^th fine soft-hairy leaves. The hairy 



tube of the corolla is less than ^ inch long, 

 and the lobes of the lip are rather broad and smooth. 

 1-3 feet high. In moist sandy soil. Southern N. J., 

 south, and west to Kan. and Tex. 

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