NAT. ORDER 
Lobeliacece. 
LOBELIA PUBERULA. BLUE DOWtfY LOBELIA. 
Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, adnate to the ovarium. Limb, five-parted. Co- 
rolla, irregular, tubular, tube cleft. The two Segments on the 
upper lip, linear-lanceolate. Filaments, combined above. An- 
thers, cohering - , bearded. Capsule, oval, two-celled, two-valved. 
Spe. Char. Leaves, oblong, obtuse, repandly serrulated. Flowers, 
almost sessile, forming a spike. Calyx, downy. Calycine Seg- 
ments, erect, lanceolate-subulate, entire. Stamens, inclosed. • 
The root is perennial ; the stem erect, simple, two to three fee;t 
high, angled, very slightly downy ; leaves, alternate, remote, three to 
four inches long, oblong or elliptical-lanceolate, sessile, dentato-serrate, 
in our specimens nearly glabrous, gradually smaller upwards ; the 
radicle ones subspathulate ; the spike is from eight to ten inches and 
sometimes even a foot long, slender ; ihe flowers are placed upon short 
pedicels, spreading, bracteated ; bracteas lanceolate, wavy, with glan- 
dular serratures ; the calyx-segments are almost as long as the tube 
of the corolla, erect, lanceolate-subulate, entire, edged with red, and 
the sinuses reflexed ; the corolla is of a bright purplish-blue, divided 
almost to the base into two portions ; the upper one linear, bifid, the 
segments acute reflexed, the lower broad and reflexed at the extremi- 
ty, three-lobed, with two oval, white, protuberant spots, the lobes 
ovate ; stamens included in the corolla. 
This is a highly interesting and valuable addition to the Materia 
Voi,. in. — 161. 
