NAT. ORDER. 
Lobeliaceco. 
LOBELIA MUCRONATA. SHARP-FLOWERED LOBELIA. 
Class V. Pentandria. Order I. Monogynia. 
Gen. Char. Calyx, superior, five-toothed and five-parted. Corolla, 
monopetalous, irregular. Stamens, five, inserted into the calyx. 
Anthers, cohering-. Pollen, oval. 
Spe. Char. Leaves, petiolate, ovate. Stem, erect, branched, angular, 
hairy. 
This peculiar and rare plant is a native of Virginia, and was first 
brought into notice by some of the English botanists. The stem is an- 
nual, upright, branched, hairy, and rises from two to three feet in 
height ; the leaves stand upon short footstalks, which are placed upon 
the branches ; they are deeply serrated, lanceolate, quite entire, cover- 
ed with a down, and are of a dark green color ; the corolla is mono- 
petalous, irregular, inserted in the calyx, five-lobed, or deeply five-cleft; 
stamens five, inserted in the calyx alternately with the lobes of the 
corollas ; anthers cohering : poll oval ; ovarium inferior, with from one 
to three cells, but usually of two cells ; ovula very numerous, attached 
to the axis or parietes of the fruit ; style simple ; stigma usually two- 
lobed, surrounded by a cup-like fringe ; fruit capsular, three-celled, 
many-seeded, dehiscing at the apex ; seeds attached to the axis or 
parietes of the fruit ; embryo straight, in the axis of the fleshy albu- 
men, with the radicle pointing to the hylum ; flowers terminal. 
The plants contained in this order have all been recorded dan- 
gerous or suspicious, in consequence of the acridity of their milk. — 
Tapa Feuelli yields a dangerous poison in Chili. The most active ar- 
Vol. in. — 163. 
