LOBELIA KALMII,
p. GRACILIS.
KALM’S LOBELIA. (The slender variety.)
Monadelphia Pentandria, Linn. Lobeliacese.
GENERIC CHARACTER.
Calm o-cleft. Corolla monopetalous, irregular, on the upper side cleft nearly to its
base. Stamina united into a tube. Stigma 2-lobed; involucrate, invo-
lucrum bearded. Capsule inferior or semi-superior, 2 or 3-celled j opening
at the summit. Seeds minute, scabrous.
SPECIFIC CHARACTER.
Slender, erect, often simple, but frequently branched; radical leaves spathulate, stem
leaves linear, very slightly denticulate; flowers racemous, alternate, -remote,
pedicellated j pedicels longer than the flowers. B.
Variety /3. Stem scabrous, pedicels shorter than the flowers. B.
SYNONYMS.
L o b e l ia Kalmii, Muhlenbergian Herbarium, Muhl. Cat. and Willd.
L o b e l ia gracilis, Nuttall, Gen. Am. PI.
Lobelia Kalmii. 133
R oot small, fibrous, perennial. Stem slender, slightly scabrous,
flexuous, and somewhat secund; generally simple, but sometimes
branched. Radical leaves as in the type of the variety: spathulate
coloured with a slight tinge of dull purple. Stem leaves distant,
few, sessile, oblong-linear, about an inch or an inch and a quarter
in length, with a few obscure teeth about the middle. Flowers
small, pale campanula-purple, situated on peduncles of deep indigo-
blue, about a quarter of an inch long, having two minute, and to the
naked eye, almost imperceptible glandular-like' bracts, or scales, at
the base. Grows on the margins of damp woods, on the edges of
sandy swamps from New Jersey to Carolina.
The genus Lobelia, (of which the Scsevola of Linnseus was the
original type,) was dedicated by father Plunder to Mathias de Lobel,
or de L’Obel. Among the species peculiar to North America, the
present one, of which we here present a variety, is the most variable.
I have specimens of the L. Kalmii sent me by Dr. John Tor-
rey, of New York, which differ considerably from each other, and
still more from the present plant. They are certainly, however, in
my opinion, not specifically distinct from the plant here figured,
which is a delicate variety; but was considered by Muhlenberg to
be the same. On consulting the Herbarium of that botanist, I have
found many specimens of the present plant, like the one figured :
others slightly deviating from its striking characters, and approaching
to the Kalmii; and of the Kalmii itself there are several specimens