Chapter L: SCARIOLA, L. (PRICKLY LETTUCE.) Stem below sparsely prickly-bristly,

as also the midrib on the lower face of the oblong or lanceolate spinulose-denticulate vertical leaves; panicle narrow; heads small, 6--12-flowered; achenes striate.--Waste grounds and roadsides, Atlantic States to Mo. and Minn. (Adv. from Eu.)

1. L. Canadensis, L. (WILD LETTUCE.) Mostly tall (4--9 deg. high), very leafy, smooth or nearly so, glaucous; leaves 6--12' long, pale beneath, mostly sinuate-pinnatifid, the upper lanceolate and entire (rarely all but the lower narrow and entire); heads about 20-flowered, 3--6'' long, numerous, in long and narrow or diffuse panicles; flowers pale yellow; achene oval, rather longer than the beak.--Rich damp soil, borders of fields or thickets; common.

2. L. integrifolia, Bigel. Less leafy, 3--4 deg. high, loosely branched above or heads loosely panicled; leaves undivided, oblong-lanceolate, pointed, denticulate or entire; flowers yellow or purplish. (L. Canadensis, var. integrifolia, _Torr. & Gray_.)--N. Eng. to Ill., and southward.

3. L. hirsuta, Muhl. Rather few-leaved, 2--3 deg. high, commonly hirsute at base; leaves hirsute both sides or only on the midrib, mostly runcinate-pinnatifid; heads in a loose open panicle; achenes oblong-oval, about as long as the beak; flowers yellow-purple, rarely whitish. (L. Canadensis, var. sanguinea, _Torr. & Gray_.)--E. Mass. to Minn., and southward.

4. L. Ludoviciana, DC. Glabrous, leafy, 2--5 deg. high; leaves oblong, sinuate-pinnatifid and spinulosely dentate, ciliate; heads in an open panicle; involucre more imbricate; flowers yellow.--Minn., Iowa, and southwestward.

Sec. 2. LACTUCASTRUM. _Achenes flat, lanceolate-oblong, tapering to a short slender beak; perennial; flowers blue._

5. L. pulchella, DC. Pale or glaucous; stem simple, 1--2 deg. high; leaves sessile, oblong- or linear-lanceolate, entire, or the lower runcinate-pinnatifid; heads few and large, racemose, erect on scaly-bracted peduncles; involucral scales imbricated in 3 or 4 ranks. (Mulgedium, _Nutt._)--Upper Mich. to Minn.; common on the plains westward.

Sec. 3. MULGEDIUM. _Achenes thickish, oblong, contracted into a short thick beak or neck; annual or biennial; flowers chiefly blue._

6. L. acuminata, Gray. Tall biennial (3--7 deg. high), with many small heads in a loose panicle, on diverging peduncles; leaves ovate to oblong-lanceolate, pointed, sharply and sometimes doubly serrate, sometimes hairy on the midrib beneath, contracted into a winged petiole, the lowest occasionally sinuate or cleft at base, and the cauline sagittate or hastate; achenes beakless; pappus white. (Mulgedium, _DC._)--Borders of woods, N. Y. to Ill. and Fla.

7. L. Floridana, Gaertn. Leaves all lyrate or runcinate, the upper often with a heart-shaped clasping base; panicle larger; achenes distinctly beaked; otherwise as n. 7.--Rich soil, Penn. to Ill., and southward.

8. L. leucophaea, Gray. Nearly smooth biennial; stem tall (3--12 deg. high), very leafy; leaves irregularly pinnatifid, sometimes runcinate, coarsely toothed, the upper cauline sessile and auriculate, sometimes clasping; heads in a large and dense compound panicle; flowers bluish to cream-color; achene short-beaked; pappus tawny. (Mulgedium, _DC._)--Low grounds; rather common.--Var. INTEGRIFOLIA, Gray. Leaves undivided, or the lower sinuate-pinnatifid. Ohio to Ill.

98. SONCHUS, L. SOW-THISTLE.

Heads many-flowered, becoming tumid at base. Involucre more or less imbricated. Achenes obcompressed, ribbed or striate, not beaked; pappus copious, of very white exceedingly soft and fine bristles mainly falling together.--Leafy-stemmed coarse weeds, chiefly smooth and glaucous, with corymbed or umbellate heads of yellow flowers; produced in summer and autumn. (The ancient Greek name.)

[*] _Annual (1--5 deg. high); flowers pale yellow._

S. OLERACEUS, L. (COMMON SOW-THISTLE.) Stem-leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, or rarely undivided, slightly toothed with soft spiny teeth, clasping by a heart-shaped base, the auricles acute; involucre downy when young; achenes striate, also wrinkled transversely.--Waste places in manured soil and around dwellings. (Nat. from Eu.)

S. ASPER, Vill. (SPINY-LEAVED S.) Stem leaves less divided and more spiny-toothed, the auricles of the clasping base rounded; achenes margined, 3-nerved on each side, smooth.--With and like the last. (Nat. from Eu.)

[*][*] _Perennial, with creeping rootstocks; flowers bright yellow, in large heads._

S. ARVENSIS, L. (FIELD S.) Leaves runcinate-pinnatifid, spiny-toothed, clasping by a heart-shaped base; peduncles and involucre bristly; achenes transversely wrinkled on the ribs.--Roadsides, etc., N. Eng. and N. Y.; becoming more common. (Nat. from Eu.)

ORDER 56. LOBELIACEAE. (LOBELIA FAMILY.)

_Herbs with acrid milky juice, alternate leaves, and scattered flowers, an irregular monopetalous 5-lobed corolla, the 5 stamens free from the corolla, and united into a tube commonly by their filaments and always by their anthers._--Calyx-tube adherent to the many-seeded pod. Style 1; stigma often fringed. Seeds anatropous, with a small straight embryo, in copious albumen.--Nearly passing into the following order.

1. LOBELIA, L.

Calyx 5-cleft, with a short tube. Corolla with a straight tube, split down on the (apparently) upper side, somewhat 2-lipped; the upper lip of 2 rather erect lobes, the lower lip spreading and 3-cleft. Two of the anthers in our species bearded at the top. Pod 2-celled, many-seeded, opening at the top.--Flowers axillary or chiefly in bracted racemes, in summer and early autumn. (Dedicated to _Matthias De l'Obel_, an early Flemish herbalist.)

[*] _Flowers deep red, large; stem simple._

1. L. cardinalis, L. (CARDINAL-FLOWER.) Tall (2--4 deg. high), smoothish; leaves oblong-lanceolate, slightly toothed; raceme elongated, rather 1-sided; the pedicels much shorter than the leaf-like bracts.--Low grounds, common.--Perennial by offsets, with large and very showy intensely red flowers, varying rarely to rose-color or even white. Hybrids with the next species also occur.

[*][*] _Flowers blue, or blue variegated with white._

[+] _Flowers rather large (corolla-tube 5--6'' long), spicate-racemose; stems leafy, 1--3 deg. high; perennial._

[++] _Leaves ovate to lanceolate, numerous; lip of corolla glabrous._

2. L. syphilitica, L. (GREAT LOBELIA.) _Somewhat hairy; leaves thin, acute at both ends_ (2--6' long), irregularly serrate; flowers (nearly 1' long) pedicelled, longer than the leafy bracts; calyx hirsute, the _sinuses with conspicuous deflexed auricles_, the short _tube hemispherical_.--Low grounds, common.--Flowers light blue, rarely white.

3. L. puberula, Michx. _Finely soft-pubescent; leaves thickish, obtuse_ (1--2' long), with small glandular teeth; spike rather 1-sided; bracts ovate; _sinuses of the calyx with short and rounded or often inconspicuous auricles, the hairy tube top-shaped_.--Moist sandy grounds, N. J. to Iowa, and south to Tex. and Fla.--Corolla bright blue, 1/2' long.

4. L. amoena, Michx. _Glabrous_ or nearly so; raceme virgate; leaves narrower; bracts lanceolate or linear, often glandular-denticulate; calyx-lobes long and very slender, usually without auricles, the tube glabrous.--S. Atlantic States, in swamps.--Var. GLANDULIFERA, Gray; a slender form with secund raceme, oval to lance-oblong obtuse gland-toothed leaves, and the bracts and calyx-teeth beset with slender gland-tipped teeth. S. Va. and southward.

[++][++] _Leaves long and narrow, sparse above; lip of corolla pubescent at base._

5. L. glandulosa, Walt. Glabrous, or sparingly pubescent; leaves, bracts, and usually the lobes of the calyx, strongly glandular-toothed; calyx-tube densely hispid, rarely sparsely so or smoothish, the sinuses not auriculate.--Pine-barren swamps, S. Va. to Fla.

[+][+] _Flowers smaller (corolla-tube not more than 2--3'' long)._

[++] _Stem leafy, mostly simple, continued into an elongated virgate spike-like raceme; leaves lanceolate to obovate, barely denticulate or repand._

6. L. leptostachys, A. DC. Smooth above; leaves obtuse, denticulate, oblong-lanceolate, the upper gradually reduced to awl-shaped bracts; calyx-lobes nearly equalling the corolla, with 10 _reflexed awl-shaped appendages as long as the hemispherical tube_.--Sandy soil, Ohio to Ill. and Mo.; also Va. to Ga.

7. L. spicata, Lam. Stem slender, _strict_ (1--4 deg. high) from a biennial (?) root, below and the barely denticulate leaves minutely pubescent; lower and root-leaves obovate or spatulate, the upper reduced to linear or club-shaped bracts; calyx-tube short, obconical or becoming almost hemispherical, _sinuses not appendaged_.--Moist or dry, mostly gravelly or sandy soil, N. New Eng. to Sask., south to Ark. and La. Fl. through summer.--Var. PARVIFLORA, Gray, a small form, with calyx-lobes broadly subulate, and pale corolla but 3'' long. Swamps, Lancaster, Penn. (_Porter_); beginning to flower in June.--Var. HIRTELLA, Gray; with somewhat scabrous pubescence, and minutely hirsute-ciliate bracts and calyx-lobes. Chiefly toward and beyond the Mississippi.

[++][++] _Stem leafy, often paniculately branched; flowers loosely racemose; sinuses of calyx not appendaged; annual or biennial._

[=] _Leaves chiefly linear, entire or denticulate; pod not inflated._

8. L. Canbyi, Gray. Stem strict (1--2 deg. high), minutely angled; _pedicels shorter than the bracts and flowers_, minutely roughened under a lens; _bractlets none; calyx-tube top-shaped, acute at base, only half the length of the lobes_ (which, with the linear leaves, are sparsely glandular-denticulate), in fruit becoming oblong, covering the whole pod; corolla deep blue (fully 5'' long), more or less _bearded in the throat_.--Wet places, N. J., Del., and S. C.

9. L. Kalmii, L. Stem mostly low (4--18' high), minutely angled; _pedicels filiform, not exceeding_ the linear or setaceous _bracts but as long as the flower, minutely 2-bracteolate or 2-glandular above the middle; calyx-tube top-shaped or obovoid_, fully half the length of the lobes, in fruit rather longer than they, covering the whole pod, corolla light blue, 4--5'' long.--Wet limestone rocks and banks, N. Eng. to L. Winnipeg, south to Penn., Ind., and Minn.

10. L. Nuttallii, Roem. & Schult. Stem very slender (1--2 deg. high), terete; _pedicels mostly longer than the bract and shorter than the flower_, usually with very minute bractlets near the base; _calyx-tube very short, depressed-hemispherical in fruit_, the globular pod half free; corolla pale blue, barely 3'' long.--Sandy swamps, N. J. and Penn. to Ga.

[=][=] _Leaves ovate or oblong, obtusely toothed; pod inflated, wholly inferior._

11. L. inflata, L. (INDIAN TOBACCO.) Stems paniculately much branched from an annual root, pubescent with spreading hairs (1--2 deg. high); leaves gradually diminishing into leaf-like bracts, which exceed the lower short-pedicelled flowers; calyx-tube ovoid.--Dry open fields.--Corolla only 11/2--2'' long. Plant poisonous and a noted quack medicine.

[++][++][++] _Stem scape-like, mostly simple, hollow; leaves fleshy; fibrous-rooted perennials, very glabrous, mostly aquatic, with pale blue or whitish flowers._

12. L. paludosa, Nutt. Nearly smooth; stem slender (1--4 deg. high); _leaves flat, scattered near the base, linear-spatulate_ or oblong-linear, glandular-denticulate, mostly tapering into a petiole; lower lip of corolla bearded in the middle; calyx-tube about half the length of the short lobes, hemispherical in fruit.--In water (but foliage emerged), Del. to Fla. and La.

13. L. Dortmanna, L. (WATER LOBELIA.) Very smooth; _scape thickish_ (5--12' high), _few-flowered; leaves all tufted at the root, linear, terete, hollow_, with a partition lengthwise; lower lip of corolla slightly hairy; calyx-tube about as long as the lobes, in fruit much longer.--Borders of ponds (often immersed), N. Eng. to N. Penn., L. Superior, and northward. (Eu.)

ORDER 57. CAMPANULACEAE. (CAMPANULA FAMILY.)

_Herbs, with milky juice, alternate leaves, and scattered flowers; calyx adherent to the ovary; the regular 5-lobed corolla bell-shaped, valvate in the bud; the 5 stamens usually free from the corolla and distinct._--Style 1, usually beset with collecting hairs above; stigmas 2 or more. Capsule 2--several-celled, many-seeded. Seed small, anatropous, with a straight embryo in fleshy albumen. Flowers generally blue and showy.

1. SPECULARIA, Heister. VENUS'S LOOKING-GLASS.

Calyx 5- (or 3--4-) lobed. Corolla wheel-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 5, separate; the membranaceous hairy filaments shorter than the anthers. Stigmas 3. Capsule prismatic or elongated-oblong, 3-celled, opening by 3 small lateral valves.--Low annuals, with axillary blue or purplish flowers, in American species dimorphous, the earlier being cleistogamous. (Name from _Speculum Veneris_, the early name of the common European species.)

1. S. perfoliata, A. DC. Somewhat hairy (3--20' high); _leaves roundish or ovate, clasping by the heart-shaped base_, toothed; flowers sessile, solitary or 2--3 together in the axils, only the upper or later ones having a conspicuous and expanding corolla; _capsule oblong, short, straight, opening rather below the middle_; seeds lenticular.--Sterile open ground; common. May--Aug.

2. S. leptocarpa, Gray. Minutely hirsute or nearly glabrous (6--12' high); _leaves lanceolate_, with flowers closely sessile in their axils; calyx-lobes of lower flowers 3; _capsule nearly cylindrical (6--9'' long, 1'' thick), inclined to curve, opening by one or two uplifted valves near the summit_; seeds oblong.--W. Mo. and Ark. to Col. and W. Tex. Expanded corolla 6--9'' wide.

2. CAMPANULA, Tourn. BELLFLOWER.

Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla generally bell-shaped, 5-lobed. Stamens 5, separate; the filaments broad and membranaceous at the base. Stigmas and cells of the capsule 3 in our species, the short pod opening on the sides by as many valves or holes.--Herbs, with terminal or axillary flowers; in summer. (A diminutive of the Italian _campana_, a bell, from the shape of the corolla.)

[*] _Style straight; openings of capsule below the middle._

[+] _Coarse pubescent many-flowered European species, sparingly naturalized; perennial._

C. RAPUNCULOIDES, L. Smoothish, slender, erect; stem-leaves ovate-lanceolate, pointed, the lower long-petioled and heart-shaped; flowers nodding, single in the axil of bracts, forming racemes; corolla oblong, 1' long.--Roadsides and fields, Canada and N. Eng. to Penn.