Lobelia anatina

Martin and Hutchins 1980, Kearney and Peebles 1969

Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Forb/Herb General: Perennial with erect stems, usually simple to 80 cm tall, glabrous to sparsely pubescent at base. Leaves: Alternate, cauline, linear to lanceolate to oblanceolate, 4-8 cm long, to about 6 mm wide, upper ones attenuate at the apex, glabrous, sometimes petioles ciliate, lower leaves petiolate, often obovate and obtuse to rounded at the apex. Flowers: Loose, terminal raceme with 10-many flowers, flowers 15-25 mm long, with a showy and conspicuously bilabiate corolla, subtended by linear-subulate floral bracts, the corolla is blue with a whitish eye, the tube hairy within, the upper lip 2-lobed erect to reflexed and linear-spatulate, the lower lip 3-lobed obovate and spreading, with 5 stamens on flattened filaments, united toward top. Fruits: Capsule 6-9 mm long. Ecology: Found in marshy meadows and along stream banks from 5,500-9,000 ft (1676-2743 m); flowers July-October. Notes: Distinctive with its bilabiate but united petals, easy to distinguish from L. cardinalis in flower, but very delicate and difficult to distinguish vegetatively. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Lobelia is named for Matthias de l-Obel (1538-1616) a Flemish botanist, while anatina is of uncertain origin, with ana being Greek for again, and anatina being Latin for duck meat. Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley, 2010