LOBELIA HETEROPHYLLA ; var. MAJOR. 
(Various-leaved Lobelia, large- flowered variety.) 
Class. 
PENTANDRIA. 
Order. 
MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
LOBELIACEiE. 
Generic Character. — Calyx five-toothed. Corolla 
tubular, irregular, cleft from the top of the tube into 
long divisions. Stamens having the anthers united and 
bearded. Style simple. Capsule two-celled. 
Specific Character. — Plant annual, smooth. Stems 
angular, nearly simple, irregularly intertwining. Leaves 
thick ; inferior ones pinnatifid, toothed ; upper ones 
linear, entire. Corolla with the lower lip jagged in the 
middle, obcordate ; lateral lobes unequal, bright blue. 
Var. Major — Plant stronger. Leaves and flowers 
much larger. 
Perhaps no tender annual is more worthy of being generally cultivated, both 
for the greenhouse and the flower-borders, than Lobelia heterophylla. The graceful 
slenderness and waviness of its branches tend much to add to the charms of its 
peculiarly brilliant flowers, and to give it a power of arresting interest which few 
others possess. 
Of this very showy little plant we have now to submit a figure of a new and 
superior variety, which exhibits the characteristics of tlie species in every material 
respect but in the greater size of all its parts. Stems, leaves, and flowers, but 
especially the last, are all considerably larger ; and we fancy from the specimens 
we have witnessed, that the blossoms are borne rather more prodigally. 
Mr. Low, of Clapton, imported seeds of this plant from the Swan River 
Colony in the year 1 840. Having been sown in the Clapton Nursery, they ger- 
minated, and the plants flowered in great perfection last summer, when the accom- 
panying figure was made. 
It is impracticable to show in a drawing the very lovely colours of the blossoms, 
or to give a complete idea of the extreme beauty of the plant. We may, however, 
say, that during the time it was in bloom (which was between two and three 
months) we never saw a more lovely group than its blossoms composed. 
To cultivate it finely, the seeds should be sown about the month of March in 
pots of a moderate size, scattering the seeds very thinly. As soon as the plants 
appear, all but from four to eight, according to the size of the pot, must be taken 
away, and the rest left to bloom in the seed-pot. A trifling bottom heat will 
