LOBELIA, 
exhibit the general afpeft of the plant. Native of the 
north of Europe; in lakes of mountainous countries. 
With us in Wales, Weltmoreland, Cumberland, Scotland. 
It floweis in July and Auguft. It was lent to Clufius 
by Dorfmann, an apothecary at Groeningen ; hence he 
named it Gladiolus ftagnalis Dortmanni, and Rudbeck 
called it Dortmanna. 
6. Lobelia tupa, or poifonous lobelia: leaves lanceo¬ 
late, quite entire, raceme fpiked. The root and herb of 
this fpecies are a violent poifon. Native of Peru. 
7. Lobelia Kalmii, or Kalm’s lobelia : Item upright, 
leaves lanceolate-linear, bluntifh, alternate, quite entire, 
raceme terminating. A foot high ; with a round (tern, 
fcarcely branched. It is an annual plant; and a native of 
Canada, where it was found by Kalm. 
8. Lobelia paniculata, or panicled lobelia: leaves li¬ 
near, quite entire, panicle dichotomous. Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope. 
9. Lobelia grandis, or great lobelia : leaves oblong, 
quite entire, fmooth, corymbs brafted, corollas hifpid. 
Native of South America, where it was found by Mutis. 
10. Lobelia ferruginea, or ruft-coloured lobelia: Item 
villofe, leaves lanceolate, ferrate, acute, where the veins 
anaftomoze rult-colonred-tomentofe on both fides, genitals 
elongated. This differs from the preceding in the ferru¬ 
ginous nap with which the flems, petioles, nerves of the 
leaves, peduncles, calyx, and corolla, are covered. Native 
of America, found by Mutis. The hairinefs in this and 
L. columnea is lingular, parts of the herb and flower being 
quite concealed by it. 
11. Lobelia Chinenfis, or Chinefe lobelia: leaves lan¬ 
ceolate, quite entire, flowers folitary, terminating, Hera 
creeping. Stem herbaceous, filiform, annual, procumbent, 
creeping; with upright branches, five inches in length. 
It differs both from L. zeylanica and erinoides in having 
the leaves quite entire, and the peduncles terminating ; 
though it is like them in habit. Native of China near 
Canton. 
12. Lobelia cornuta, or horned lobelia: leaves ovate, 
petioled ; ftamens very long. Native of Cayenne. Diftin- 
guifhed and named from the great length of the ftamens. 
Linnsus fays that he favv the plant in Royen’s colleftion; 
and we are no otherwife acquainted with it. 
II. With an upright ftem, and galhed leaves. 13. Lo¬ 
belia phyteuma: leaves ovate-oblong, crenate; ftem almoit 
naked, fpiked ; anthers hirfute, diltimft. Native of the 
Cape of Good Hope. 
14. Lobelia bulbofa, or tuberous-rooted lobelia: ftem 
upright; lower leaves pedate. This refembles N° 40 
very much. The filaments are connate at the bafe ; the 
anthers difiinf! ; and the petals equal. Hence Bergius 
feparated it from Lobelia under the name of Cypkia. 
15. Lobelia triquetra, or tooth-leaved lobelia: ftem 
upright; leaves lanceolate, toothed ; raceme terminating, 
leaflefs. This is an annual plant; Items herbaceous, a 
foot high. Flowers blue. Native of the Cape of Good 
Hope; introduced in 1774, by Mr. Francis Malfon; flow¬ 
ers from May to September. 
16. Lobelia longiflora, or long-flowered lobelia: leaves 
lanceolate, toothed; peduncles very fliort, lateral; tube of 
the corolla filiform, very long. This is an annual, herba¬ 
ceous, elegant, upright plant, feldom above fourteen or 
fixteen inches in height, the whole of it rough-haired. 
The whole plant is very poifonous. Taken internally, it 
brings on an invincible purging. If the plant be hand¬ 
led, and the hand be unawares applied to the eyes or lips, 
it brings on an inflammation. Horfes are reported to 
burft with eating it; whence in the Spanilh Weft Indies 
it has the name of reventa-cavallos ; it ,is well-known in 
Domingo under the name of quedec ; it is alfo a native of 
Jamaica, Cuba, and Martinico, by rivulets, and in moift, 
coo-!, fhady places. Cultivated in 1739, b y Mr. Miller, 
flowers from June to Auguft. 
17. Lobelia tomentofa, or downy lobelia: ftraight, to- 
eiento'fe; leaves linear toothed; peduncles terminating, 
Voi.. XII. No. 877. 
857 
very long, one or two flowered. Native of the Cape of 
Good Hope, where it was found by Thunberg. 
18. Lobelia fecunda, or inferior lobelia: upright, ftnooth, 
lower leaves oblong, toothed, upper lanceolate, entire ; 
peduncles racemed, directed one way. This fpecies is 
lingular in having the branches flowering almoft from the 
bafe in all the axils of the leaves, and the flowers all nod¬ 
ding to one fide. Found at the Cape by Thunberg. 
19. Lobelia affhrgens, or tree-lobelia: leaves broad-lan¬ 
ceolate, ferrate, toothletted and decurrent below, racemes 
compound terminating. Root perennial. Stem herbace¬ 
ous, three or four feet high, Ample or only Amply divided 
at top, angular, thick, fmooth, red, milky. Flowers nu¬ 
merous, heaped, blood-red, very large. Native of Jamaica, 
in the cooler mountains, where it Ihoots frequently to the 
height of five or fix feet. Introduced in 1787, by Mr. 
Alexander Anderfon. 
ao. Lobelia patula, or fpreading lobelia : herbaceous, 
diffufed, virgate, fmooth, leaves ovate toothed, peduncles 
lateral. Found by Thunberg at the Cape of Good Hope. 
In the Supplement, it is faid to be Angular that it feldom 
has leaves or flowers. 
21. Lobelia acuminata, or pointed-leaved lobelia : ftem 
upright, fuffruticofe, leaves lanceolate, attenuated, fer- 
rulate, raceme terminating, many-flowered. This feldom 
riles above three feet in height. It grows generally in 
the lower lhady hills of Jamaica. Sloane fays it has a 
ftalk as big as one’s finger, green and fmooth. Leaves 
many, without order, ten inches long, and two broad in 
the middle, dark green. Flowers pale yellow. Seeds very 
fmall, brown. 
22. Lobelia ftriCla, or narrow lobelia : ftem upright, 
fuffruticofe, lower leaves ovate-lanceolate, fmooth, tooth¬ 
letted, and prickly at the edge, raceme terminating, fpiked; 
Native of the ifland of Guadalonpe. 
23. Lobelia cardinalis, fcarlet lobelia, or cardinal-flower; 
ftem upright, herbaceous, leaves oblong, lanceolate, fer¬ 
rate, fomewhat villofe, flowers in a fort of fpike, calyxes 
fmooth, fegments quite entire. The root is compofed of 
many white flelhy fibres. The lower leaves are oblong, 
and of a dark purplifti colour on their upper fide. The 
ftalks are ere< 5 l, about a foot and a half high, with leaves 
about three inches long, and an inch and a half broad in the 
middle, on very fliort petioles, and placed alternately. The 
ftalk is terminated by a fpike (raceme) of flowers, of an 
exceeding beautiful fcarlet colour. They appear at the 
end of July and in Auguft, when they make a fine ap¬ 
pearance for a month or more ; and, when the autumn 
proves favourable, they will produce good feeds here. It 
grows naturally by the fide of rivers and ditches in great 
part of North America. Linnaeus and the Kew Catalogue 
aflign it to Virginia only. Parkinfon, who mentions it as 
cheriflied in our gardens (in 1629), fays, “ that it groweth 
near the river of Canada, where the French plantation in 
America is feated.” 
24. Lobelia fipliilitica, blue lobelia, or cardinal-flower: 
ftem upright, leaves ovate-lanceolate, fubferrate, finufes of 
the calyx reflex. Root perennial. Stem Ample, from a foot 
to two feet in height, and upwards, ftrong, Ample, fmooth, 
with angles formed by the decurrent edges of the leaves 
having Itiffifli hairs on them. Native of Virginia. Cul¬ 
tivated here in 1665, as appears from Rea’s Flora, It 
flowers from Auguft to October, or, according to Mr. 
Miller,earlier than the preceding; and the feeds frequently 
ripen in England. Every part of the plant abounds with 
a milky juice, and has a rank fmell. The root, which is 
the part directed for medicinal ul'e, in tafte relembles to¬ 
bacco, and is apt to excite vomiting. It derives the tri¬ 
vial name from its efficacy in the cure of fiphilis, as expe¬ 
rienced by the North-American Indians, with whom it 
was a fecret. Sir William Johnfon purchafed the fecret j 
and it has fince been published by Kalm, Bartram, &c. 
The method of employing this medicine is as follows: A de¬ 
coction is made of a handful of the roots in three meafures 
of water. Of this, half a meafure is taken'in the in orning 
jo I faffing. 
