BELL-FLOWER FAMILY 



297 



chambered, 2 — 3-valved. (Name from Matthias de Lobel, a 

 Flemish botanist of the sixteenth century, who lived for many 

 years at Highgate.) 



1. L. Dortmdnna (Water Lobelia). — A submerged aquatic 

 plant, forming a matted base at the bottom of the water ; leaves 

 all radical, almost cylindrical, of 2 parallel tubes ; scape slender, 

 erect, cylindric, almost leafless, 



hollow, rising above the water ; 

 flowers distant, drooping, pale 

 lilac, bracteate. — Mountain 

 lakes with gravelly bottoms. — 

 Fl. July, August. Perennial. 



2. L. mens (Acrid Lobelia). 

 — Stem angular, leafy, with an 

 acrid, milky juice ; leaves obov- 

 ate, toothed; flowers purple, 

 erect or spreading, with long 

 bracts. — A heath near Ax- ^gw 

 minster, Devon ; very rare. — '/*' 

 Fl. August, September. Peren- 

 nial. 



2. jAsfoNE (Sheep's-bit). — 

 Herbs with both radical and 

 cauline leaves ; flowers small, in 

 terminal heads, with an in- 

 volucre of many bracts ; calyx 

 5-fid ; corolla rotate, deeply 

 divided into 5 linear lobes; 

 stamens 5, united by their 

 anthers ; capsule 2-chambered, 

 2-valved. (Name of uncertain 

 origin.) 



1. /. montdna (Sheep's-bit, 

 Sheep's Scabious). — The only 

 British species, about a foot 

 high, and strongly resembling a 



Scabious or one of the Compositce, but differing from the former 

 in its united anthers, and from the latter in its 2-chambered 

 capsule. The leaves are oblong, blunt and hairy ; the heads of * 

 flowers lilac-blue. — Dry heathy places ; common. The whole 

 plant, when bruised, has a strong and disagreeable smell. — Fl. 

 June— September. Perennial. 



3. Wahlenbergia (Ivy-leaved Bell-flower). — A slender 



lob6lia dortmXnna {Water Lobelia). 



