LOBELIA FULGENS var. 
(Garden Varieties of the Fulgent Lobelia.) 
Class. Order. 
PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. 
Natural Order. 
LOBELIACEJE. 
(Lobeliads, Veg. King.) 
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 herbaceous. Stem pur- 
plish-red, downy, growing two feet high. Leaves four 
to six inches long, lanceolate, denticulate, with revolute 
margins, thickly covered with a fine soft down. 
Racemes terminal, leafy. Corolla scarlet, an inch or 
more long, and downy outside. 
Synonymes and Authorities. — Lobelia Linn.,- Lo- 
belia fulgens Willd. in HoH. Berol. ii., 85 ; and Bot. 
Rep., 659. 
Var. multiflora — M any -jloivered fulgent Lobelia.— 
Stem reddish-purple, rising to the height of four feet. 
Leaves deep green, tinged on the under side with 
purple. Flowers double the size of those of the species, 
of a brilliant scarlet. 
Var. pyramidalis. — Pyramidal fulgent Lobelia.— 
Flowers double the size of those of the species ; colour 
paler and of a brighter scarlet ; segments of the corolla 
longer, narrower, and more acuminated than those of 
multiflora. 
Var. Marr vATTiE. — Mrs. Marryatt's fulgent Lobelia. 
— Stem rising two or three feet high. Flowers deep 
crimson-purple, mottled with pale rose-colour. 
The genus Lobelia comprehends more than 160 species ; about 80 are already 
in cultivation ; the whole are ornamental when in bloom, and some are truly 
splendid. Of the species already in our collections, about 22 are perfectly hardy, 12 
require occasional shelter in very severe weather, and may be considered frame plants, 
46 require the temperature of the greenhouse, and 2 the stove. 
Of the hardy kinds, 10 are herbaceous perennials, and should be planted in a 
rich moist soil, where they will not be subjected to drought during the hot weather of 
summer, or they will dwindle, and neither grow nor flower freely ; 10 are hardy 
annuals, and should be sown in light sandy soil in the situations they are intended to 
occupy for the season ; and 2 are biennials, and should be sown at the same time as 
other hardy biennials, and treated in the same manner. 
Of the frame species, 10 are herbaceous perennials, amongst which is L. fulgens, 
of which the three subjects of our plate are garden varieties. They all flowered in 
the garden of the late Mr. Wells, of Redleaf, Kent, and made a splendid appearance. 
Our drawings were made in September last. 
L. fulgens multiflora sends up a flower-stem four feet or more high, and bears a 
profusion of flowers of the most vivid scarlet ; the three lower divisions of the corolla 
are at least an inch and a half long, and spread out to about the same length from 
point to point, 
