Downy Lobelia

(Lobelia puberula)

 

Color Photograph: © by and courtesy of G.A. Cooper, Smithsonian Institution

Line Drawing: Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913. An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States and Canada, Second Edition.

Downy Lobelia (Lobelia puberula)

Identification: Flowers typical of the lobelias with 5 petals fused into a basal tube. Three lower petal lobes projecting downward. Upper 2 petals curled upward. Flowers violet-blue, arising from leaf axils and confined to one side of the plant. Leaves ovate to ovate-elongate, sessile to the stem. Plant 1 to 3 feet in height.

Distribution: Found mostly along the coastal plain from New Jersey southward to Florida and westward to Texas. Also found in scattered localities in the interior of the eastern United States.

Habitat: Downy Lobelia is found in open woods and clearings.

Flowering period: August to October.

Downy Lobelia (Lobelia puberula)

Similar Species:

Great Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)

 

Similar Species