Page:Illustrations of Indian Botany, Vol. 2.djvu/215

ILLUSTRATIONS OF INDIAN BOTANY.

Ill The old genus Lobelia has, by recent writers, been broken up, and no fewer than 23 genera of Lobeliacece now find the name Lobelia among their synonyms. To what extent all these genera are well founded I am quite unable to say, being acquainted with only two or three of them. All the Indian species, except two, are still placed in the original genus, and I have not specimens of either of the off-shoots for examination. The most remarkable among the Peninsular species is undoubtedly L. eoocelsa, so abundant on the Neilgherries, a most ungraceful looking plant, growing as it does to the height of from 8 to 12 feet, the lower half quite naked, the middle thickly covered with leaves, and ending in a long, dense, tapering spike of pale yellowish, or slightly variegated flowers, but so intermixed with leafy bracts, as to be almost concealed by them. In Ceylon there is a nearly allied species, named L. aromatica by Moon (Wight's Ic. No. 1172). L. trichandra (R. W. Icon. No. 1171 ) is another large species, nearly allied to L. Nicotianifolia, and abounds on the western slopes of the Neilgherries, below Sispara, flowering in February and March.

Lobelia Nicotianifolia. Flowering branch.

1. Detached flower.

2. The same, the corolla removed, showing the epigynous insertion of the stamens, the anthers forcibly separated and each bearded at the apex.

3. Ovary cut vertically.

4. cut transversely.

5. Mature capsule after dehiscence.

6. The same cut vertically, showing the position and attachment of the placentae.

7. The same cut transversely, showing the inflexed placentiferous, carpellary margins.

8. Half of the capsule divided loculindally as in natural dehiscence.

9. 10. Upper and under surfaces of the leaves.

11. Ovary of Lobelia excelsa, showing that it is nearly free, not adherent to tube of the calyx as in the other. All more or less magnified.

In the Flora of the world this elegant and innocent family holds a prominent place, em- bracing about 25 genera, and probably not fewer than from 450 to 500 species. These are widely distributed over extra-tropical regions, but within the tropics are very rare, except in alpine situations. The plains of India only furnish three or four species, and not a single true Campanula, those described under that name being all referable to Wahlenbergia. On the Neilgherries there are three if not four Campanulas, and I think two Wahlenbergias, hence, as an Indian family, it is one of very secondary importance. Alph. De Candolle, who has published an admirable monograph of the order, thus characterizes it :

Character of the Order. Calyx usually 5-lobed, occasionally 3-6-8- or 10-lobed, adnate to the ovary, the lobes equal. Corolla, petals united (gamopetalous), regular, or rarely somewhat irregular, divisions alternate with the lobes of the calyx, valvate in aestivation. Sta- mens 3-5-6-8 or 10, usually equalling, never exceeding the lobes of the corolla, alternate with them, and not adhering to the tube: filaments usually dilated, membranaceous at the base: anthers for the most part free, the cells bursting longitudinally before dehiscence. Pollen grains (when dry) sphaerical, rough with minute papillae. Ovary inferior, 2-10-celled, in Merciera 1- celled from the incomplete partitions. Ovules numerous, in Merciera 4. Styles more or less covered with caducous, collecting hairs. Stigma naked, sometimes bound with an indusium, usually branched, the branches equalling the cells of the ovary, erect in the flower-bud, hairy on the back, papillose within, diverging or recurved in the flower. Cells of the ovary, when equal to the lobes of the calyx, either alternate or opposite to them. Capsule dehiscing at the apex or sides, the valves for the most part bearing the partitions more rarely without valves, opening by pores or fissures. Seed numerous, small, embryo straight, albumen fleshy. Herbaceous, rarely suffruticose, milky plants, most frequent in temperate regions. Leaves exstipulate, alternate, or rarely opposite, often dentate. Inflorescence either definate, centrifugal or obscurely indefinate, in that case the flowers terminating, the lateral branches opening first. Flowers solitary or glomerate, generally pedicelled ; seldom involucrate. Corolla usually blue, sometimes yellow or purple.