V 
NAT. ORDER. 
Loheliacece. 
LOBELIA SURINAMENSIS. SHRUBBY LOBELIA 
Class XIX. Syngenesia. Order I. Polyga,mia tEqualis. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, five-parted. Corolla, one-petaled, irregular 
Capsules, inferior, two to five, three-lobed, two-valved at the 
apex. 
Spe. Char. Stem, fruitful. Leaves, oblong, glabrous, serrated. 
Flowers, pedunculated. 
The whole plant is smooth, and of a beautiful shining green 
color. The stein is slender, erect, and branched, and, in good soil, 
obtains the height of several feet ; the leaves are linear, and re- 
motely denticulate ; radical ones, spathulate ; raceme, few-flowered, 
and leafy ; peduncles, longer than the fruit, with two minute 
bracts near the flower ; the capsule is attenuate at the base ; the 
blossoms are very large, of a pale red color ; and its anthers, which 
are sometimes mistaken for the stigma, are usually hairy. It is a 
- native of the West Indies. 
The Lobelia surinamensis is a plant which was formerly des- 
cribed by the younger Linnaeus, under the name Laevigata, appa- 
rently from the smoothness of its flowers. In the year 1786, Mr. 
Alexander Anderson, a botanist of some reputation in the West 
Indies, procured this plant, and sent it to the Royal Garden at 
Kew, where it was extensively cultivated for medical purposes; 
but is now found growing spontaneously, in the woods and dry 
marshes, not only here, but also at Surinam, and the country ad- 
joining. Mr. Alton has assigned to it a new specific description, 
and a new trivial name, for the correctness of which, we are at 
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