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LOBÈLIA polyphylla.
Leafy Lobelia.
Linnean Class and Order. P E N T A N D R IA M O N O G Y N IA .
Natural Order. C A M P A N U L A C E Æ . Brown p r o d r .\. p . 669.
T rib. 2. L o b e l ie æ .
L O B E L IA . Suprà fol. 86.
L. polyphylla, foliis ovato-lanceolatis mucronatis argutè serratis glaberrimis,
recemo terminali folioso, corollæ tubo calyce vix longiore.
Lobelia polyphylla. Hook, and Arnott in Beechey’s voy. append, p . 33.
4 J-'M iiol buZf c-z.mj/.,.
Root perennial. Stems erect, round, simple, solid, leafy,
glabrous, rather woody at the base, rising to the height of 4
or 5 feet, and abounding in a nauseous, highly acrid juice.
Leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed, finely and unequally serrated,
glabrous and shining on both sides, paler and veiny
beneath, varying from 2 to 4 inches long ; the lower ones
more coarsely serrated, stalked and attenuated at the base ;
upper ones broader and sessile. Racemes terminal, leafy, from
a span to a foot long. Flowers solitary, about as long as the
bractes, on short filiform peduncles. Bractes large, leafy,
ovate-lanceolate, pointed, finely serrated. Calyx hemispherical,
slightly pubescent, with 5 erect, lanceolate, acuminate
teeth. Corolla scarcely an inch long, of a dark purple,
finely pubescent, cleft along the b ack ; the limb bilabiate,
with ovate-lanceolate, acute, recurved segments; the tube
ventricose at the base, a little longer than the calyx. Stamens
cohering, purple. Anthers, lower pair bearded at the
apex, the rest naked. Ovarium inferior, of two cells, with
a membranous partition. Ovula crowded, attached to two
thick, adnate placentse. Stigma cloven, with two broad,
revolute, greenish lobes.
This, together with mucronata and Tupa, from the .same
country, are very nearly allied, being found to differ chiefly
in the proportionate length of the tube of the corolla, the
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