LOBELIA FULGENS -FULGENT LOBELIA. 
Class V. PE N T A N D R I A.— Order I. MON OGYNI A. 
Natural Order, LOBELIACLE. 
Fig 1. The stamens exhibited, showing their union at the anthers. Fig. 2 The pistil with the corolla and calyx removed. 
Lobelia : from Mathias de Lobel, a Flemish botanist, who was physician to King James I. 
Generic Caracter. — Cal. Perianth one-leaved five-cleft, very small, growing round the germ, 
withering ; toothlets nearly equal. Cor. one-petaled, irregular ; the tube cylindric, longer than the calyx, 
divided longitudinally above; border five-parted ; divisions lanceolate, of which the two superior ones are 
smaller, less reflex, more deeply divided, constituting an upper lip ; the three inferior ones more spreading, 
frequently larger. Stam. Filaments five, awl-shaped, the length of the tube of the petal, connate above. 
Anthers connate into an oblong cylinder, gaping five ways at the base. Pist. Germ sharp-pointed, inferior. 
Style cylindric, length of the stamens. Stigma obtuse, hispid. Per. Capsule ovate two or three-celled, two- 
or three-valved, gaping at the top, girt by the calyx. Seeds many, very small. Recept. conic. 
Specific Character. — Leaves oblong, lanceolate, rather serrate, slightly villose; flowers in a spike. 
Root white and very fibrous. Leaves closely succeeding each other on the stalk ; they are lanceolate, 
of a blueish green, with a kind of pubescence on its surface giving it an appearance of velvet. Stem erect, 
rising to the height of about three feet. The flowers are of a brilliant scarlet, and form a spike at the end 
of the stem. 
The splendour of this herbaceous perennial is such as to call forth the admiration of every beholder. 
Whether it be intermixed in the herbaceous border, or in a bed forming a group of the hardy species of this 
genus, among which there are many possessing much beauty, it will nevertheless be prominent for brilliancy. 
It may be grown to great perfection in pots, for the purpose of ornamenting flower-houses during the sum- 
mer months; for this purpose it should be cultivated by means of artificial heat in the early part of the 
season, and may by this method be made to obtain the height of five or six feet, although in the open border 
it rarely exceeds the height of three feet; its earliest flowers appear in July, with a succession until the end 
of August. 
Every facility is afforded by this plant for rapid propagation and general cultivation : it freely increases 
by its roots, which may be separated in the month of March, very small portions of which will produce 
plants. 
It thrives well in a light rich earth, composed of portions of light garden mould, decayed leaves, and 
rotten manure. It is a native of North America. The date of its introduction is not correctly ascertained.* 
The milky juices of these plants, although often acrid, and sometimes poisonous, vary in the degree of 
their acridity, and are even occasionally mild and insipid, as is the case in L. tenella. Their milk, especially 
that of the species growing in warm climates, contains caoutchouc; and from one, hence called L. caoutchouc, 
this very useful substance is procured. L. infiata has been much commended for the relief it affords in 
difficulty of breathing, and it appears to have been administered in asthma, and even in croup, with much 
advantage ; it is both emetic and diaphoretic, but it should be exhibited with caution, for several cases are 
on record in which death has been caused by too large doses : L. longiflora is also poisonous ; and, from its 
destroying horses that feed upon it it has been called in St. Domingo Chatta cavallo ; and in Spain where it 
Flora Conspicua. 
