LOBELIA speciosa.
Showy Lobelia.
Linnean Class and Order. P E N T A N D R IA M O N O G Y N IA .
N a tu ra lO rd e r. C A M P A N U L A C E A . Brown prodr. 1. p. 5o9.
L O B E L IA . Suprà fol. 86, series 2.
L. speciosa, velutina ; foliis sessilibus lanceolatis acutis denticulatis, racemo
laxo spicato, pedunculis bibracteatis, calycum sinubus reflexis.
Lobelia speciosa. Hortalan. Bo t. Reg. t.
The whole herb is clothed with a short, downy pubescence.
Root perennial. Stems upright, round, often furnished
with a few branches at the top, from three to five feet high
Leaves sessile, lanceolate, acute, the margin purplish, and
furnished with minute teeth, the lower ones from 3 to i inches
long, and attenuated at the base. Flowers many, disposed
in loose, terminal, unilateral, leafy clusters. F edimcles very
short, cylindrical, furnished at the middle with two small,
lanceolate bracteæ, and at the base with a large, leaty, ser-
rulate one. Calyx 5-cleft : segments lanceolate, acuminate,
minutely toothed, the edges recurved, and slightly waveff
Corolla the size oih.fulgens, of a bright, velvetty purple, bilabiate,
and cleft along the back. Segments lanceolate, acute,
tbe two upper ones narrower, and spreading at right angles.
L i t a f r united, dark purple. imperfectly developed,
of a sulphur colour, and bearded at the top. tdyte
thick, cylindrical, incurved at the top. Stigma large, bilabiate,
pruinose, the edges slightly revolute, furnished at the
base with a circular spreading fringe.
This showy hybrid was, we were informed by oiii Iriencl,
Mr Mackay, of the Dublin Botanic Garden, detected m a
border composed of Lobelia fulgensaxid coeruleama garden m
Ireland, but the name of the place we do not, at present, leu
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