206 



WEEDS AND USEFUL PLANTS. 



clothed when young with a loose flocculent white tomentum ; involucre tumid and orbicular 

 at base, abruptly contracted above to an acuraination. 

 Gardens and cultivated grounds, August- September. 



Ohs. Besides the above, the Spiny-leaved Sow-thistle [S. as' per, L.) is 

 frequently met with ; it has prickly toothed leaves, those of the stem 

 clasping it by conspicuous rounded auricles ; and smooth, nerved akenes. 

 A perennial species [S. arven'sis, L.) with very large flowers, is sparingly 

 introduced along the sea-coast. 



Order XLL LOBELIA' CE^. (Lobelia Family.) 



Herbs with milky juice, alternate leaves^ and scattered ^oii'e?-s (i. e. not heads). Calyx-tube 

 more or less adherent to the ovary. CoroUa tubular, irregularly 5-lobed, slit longitudi- 

 nally, nearly or quite to the base on one side. Stamens 5, united into a tube by their an- 

 thers, and more or less completely by their filaments ; free from the corolla. Seeds nume- 

 rous with fleshy albumen. The plants of this family are generally acrid and poisonous. 



1. LOBE'LIA, L. Lobelia. 



[Named in honor of Matthias de Lobd^ — a Flemish Botanist,] 



Calyx 5-lobed ; the sinuses sometimes with an appendage ; tube short, 

 tumid. Corolla tubular, — the tube cylindric or funnel-form, cleft on the 

 upper side nearly to the base ; limb somewhat bilabiate, — the upper lip 

 mostly smaller and erect — the lower one broader, spreading, 3-cleft or 3- 

 toothed. Anthers coherent in a tube, — the 2 lower ones bearded at 

 apex. Pod 2-celled, many-seeded, opening at the top. Flowers race- 

 mose-spicate, of various colors — usually blue or red, 



1. L. infla'ta, L. Stem erect, hirsute, paniculately branched ; leaves 

 subsessile, lance-ovate, crenate-dentate, pilose ; racemes leafy ; flowers 

 small, axillary ; calyx-tube ovoid, smoothish, the segments as long as the 

 corolla, the sinuses not appeadaged ; capsule ovoid or oval, inflated. 



Inflated Lobelia, Eye-bright. Indian Tobacco. 



iZoo< annual or biennial. Stem 9 -18 inches high, sometimes angled or slightly winged 

 by the decurrence of the Iciives, often very hairy ; branches axillary. Leaves 1-3 in- 

 ches long, more or less ovate, unequally sinuate-dentate or crenate. Peduncles one-fourth 

 to half an inch long. Corolla pale blue, rather inconspicuous. Capsule thin and mem- 

 branaceous, smoothish. Seeds minute, elliptic-oblong, rough with ferruginous reticulated 

 ridges. 



Pastures, road-sides, &c. : Canada to South Carolina. Fl. July -September. Fr. Au- 

 gust-October. 



Obs. This is an acrid plant, — possessing emetic, cathartic, and nar- 

 cotic properties ; and is somewhat notorious for the use made of it by a 

 tribe of reckless modern Empirics. It is frequent in our pastures, in the 

 latter part of cummer, — and has been suspected of causing the ptyalism 

 or slabbering of horses so often observable at that season. I cannot, 

 however, help doubting the correctness of the opinion ; for the horse is 

 a dainty animal in the selection of his food. I have often remarked the 

 care and dexterity with which he separates the palatable herbage from 

 that which is not so ; and have never seen him eat, nor even crop, so 



