Lobelia urens

Last updated

Lobelia urens
Lobelia urens (spike).jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Campanulaceae
Genus: Lobelia
Species:
L. urens
Binomial name
Lobelia urens
L.

Lobelia urens, commonly known as heath lobelia [1] or acrid lobelia is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family. It is predominantly native to western Europe but can also be found in northern Morocco and in the island of Madeira off Northwest Africa.

Contents

It can be found in communities on grassy heaths, rough pastures, and open heathy woodlands, often found on woodland margins on infertile acid soils. Within this they are found in low-lying terrain, often valley bottoms. The soils are seasonally waterlogged.

Description

Lobelia urens is more or less hairless perennial and can grow up to 60 cm tall. It has rhizomes. The leaves are obovate at the base, and linear to oblong higher up. They are shiny dark green and toothed. They have very short stalks. The calyx teeth are long and very narrow.

The flowers are up to 1.5 cm long, blue-purple. They have 2 narrow lobes on upper lip, and 3 narrow teeth on the lower. The stalks are less than 1 cm, and corolla lobes are less than 2mm wide. It flowers from May until September. [2] The flowers are hermaphrodite and zygomorphic.

The plant requires bare ground patches in which the seeds can germinate. Germination is improved in soil with a high moisture content. Seeds are produced throughout the year, peaking in production during July and August. Only those that are produced March to June survive. [3]

Differences from garden lobelia

Garden lobelia ( Lobelia erinus ) is similar, but is slender, trailing, an annual, comes in different colours, the flower stalks are up to 2 cm, and the lower 3 corolla lobes are more than 2mm wide. [4]

Distribution

From north to south, this plant is found throughout southern England (rare, and in lowland areas up to 210 metres high), Belgium, the western portion of France (in lowland coastal areas), the humid western portion of the Iberian Peninsula in Portugal (along the coastal plain, passing into the wet northern province valleys up to 800 metres) and western Spain (in grazed pasture of upland valleys between 600 and 915 metres high), the Rif Mountains of Morocco and the island of Madeira. Outside of its native range it was introduced to the Azores.

Associated species

They are often found with Juncus articulatus , Juncus conglomeratus , Lotus pedunculatus , Mentha aquatica (water mint), Molinia caerulea (purple moor grass), Potentilla erecta , Pulicaria dysenterica , and Salix cinerea .

Places found

Related Research Articles

<i>Epacris impressa</i> Plant of the heath family, Ericaceae, that is native to southeast Australia

Epacris impressa, also known as common heath, is a species of plant in the heath family Ericaceae. It is native to south-eastern Australia. French botanist Jacques Labillardière collected the species in 1793 and described it in 1805. Four forms have been identified, but no subspecies are recognised. Growing in heathland, shrubland or open forest, it is generally a small shrub around 0.5 to 1 m tall, with small stiff leaves. The red, pink or white tube-like flowers appear from late autumn to early spring. Honeyeater birds, particularly the eastern spinebill, feed upon the nectar of the flowers. It regenerates after bushfire by seed or by resprouting.

<i>Ajuga reptans</i> Species of flowering plant

Ajuga reptans is commonly known as bugle, blue bugle, bugleherb, bugleweed, carpetweed, carpet bugleweed, and common bugle, and traditionally however less commonly as St. Lawrence plant. It is an herbaceous flowering plant in the mint family Lamiaceae, native to Europe. It is invasive in parts of North America. It is also a component of purple moor grass and rush pastures, a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the United Kingdom.

<i>Salvia funerea</i> Species of shrub

Salvia funerea, is a species of semi-deciduous perennial shrub with the common names Death Valley sage, woolly sage, and funeral sage, is an intricately branched shrub associated with limestone soils in the Mojave Desert in California and Nevada. It is characterized by an overall white appearance due to wooly hairs that cover the stems and leaves.

<i>Campanula medium</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula medium, common name Canterbury bells, is an annual or biennial flowering plant of the genus Campanula, belonging to the family Campanulaceae. In floriography, it represents gratitude, or faith and constancy.

<i>Lobelia scaevolifolia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Lobelia scaevolifolia is a species of the plant family Campanulaceae. It is endemic to the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was at one time placed as the only species, Trimeris scaevolifolia, in the genus Trimeris. Its common name is St. Helena lobelia.

<i>Campanula patula</i> Species of flowering plant

Campanula patula or spreading bellflower is a plant species of the genus Campanula. It can grow to more than half a meter high. This delicate bellflower bears lateral branches of pale blue or white flowers that are upright and funnel shaped. The leaves are narrow and pointed. Branches are often supported by the surrounding vegetation, so the plants can appear prostrate. The main difference between this and other bellflowers is that the petals in the bell are spread out and more pointed and this gives this species its common name.

Verticordia bifimbriata is a flowering plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an open shrub with small leaves and spikes of pink flowers.

Lowland heath is a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat as it is a type of ancient wild landscape. Natural England's Environmental Stewardship scheme describes lowland heath as containing dry heath, wet heath and valley mire communities, usually below 250 metres (820 ft) in altitude, on acidic soils and shallow peat, typically comprising heathers, gorses, fine grasses, wild flowers and lichens in a complex mosaic. Heathers and other dwarf shrubs usually account for at least 25% of the ground cover. By contrast, upland heath, which is above 300 metres (980 ft) in altitude, is called moorland, Dartmoor being an example.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purple moor grass and rush pastures</span> One of UKs natural habitats

Purple moor grass and rush pastures is a type of Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in the UK. It occurs on poorly drained neutral and acidic soils of the lowlands and upland fringe. It is found in the South West of England, especially in Devon.

<i>Luzula sylvatica</i> Species of flowering plant in the rush family Juncaceae

Luzula sylvatica, commonly known as greater wood-rush or great wood-rush, is a perennial flowering plant in the rush family Juncaceae.

<i>Alyxia buxifolia</i> Species of plant

Alyxia buxifolia, otherwise known as the sea box or dysentery bush, is a species of evergreen shrub in the family Apocynaceae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew's Wood</span> Nature reserve in south Devon, England

Andrews Wood,, is a nature reserve managed by the Devon Wildlife Trust.

<i>Coprosma rotundifolia</i> Species of flowering plant

Coprosma rotundifolia is a native forest shrub of New Zealand found on the North, South, and Stewart Islands.

<i>Centaurium pulchellum</i> Species of flowering plant

Centaurium pulchellum is a species of flowering plant in the gentian family known by the common name lesser centaury, or slender centaury. It differs from Centaurium erythraea by lacking basal rosette of leaves and by having a developed peduncle below the flowers. It is often much smaller, less than ten centimetres. It is native to the southern temperate parts of Europe.

<i>Hesperocodon</i> Genus of flowering plants

Hesperocodon hederaceus, synonym Wahlenbergia hederacea, also known as the ivy-leaved bellflower, is a species of flowering plant that is found throughout Europe. It is the only species in the genus Hesperocodon. The delicate, patch-forming, hairless perennial herb has thin, creeping stems about 20 cm in length. Its pale green leaves are long-stalked and have an ivy-shaped, rounded structure. These leaves can be described as having a cordate shape and are approximately 5–12 mm long and wide. The plant has erect, solitary, pale blue flowers in summer and autumn, with bell-shaped corolla with 5 short lobes. The flowers are 6–10 mm long x 5–8 mm wide and sit on fine stalks 1–4 cm long. It is suggested that the long pedicels are an adaptation to assist in seed dispersal.

Goodenia gloeophylla is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is an erect, slightly woody under-shrub with linear to narrow elliptic, toothed or narrowly-lobed leaves, and racemes of pale to deep purple flowers.

Goodenia granitica is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an annual herb with spatula-shaped, sometimes lobed leaves, in a rosette at the base of the plant, and racemes of yellow flowers.

<i>Goodenia scapigera</i> Species of plant

Goodenia scapigera, commonly known as white goodenia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is an erect, perennial herb or shrub with linear to narrow egg-shaped leaves clustered near the ends of the stems, and thyrses of white flowers with purplish spots.

<i>Goodenia tripartita</i> Species of plant

Goodenia tripartita is a species of flowering plant in the family Goodeniaceae and is endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. It is a low-lying to prostrate herb with elliptic to egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, mostly at the base of the plant, and racemes of bright yellow flowers.

<i>Senecio minimus</i> Species of plant

Senecio minimus, commonly known as toothed fireweed and coastal burnweed, is a species of plant in the sunflower family. It is native to Australia and New Zealand, and also naturalized on the Pacific Coast of the United States.

References

  1. BSBI List 2007 (xls). Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. Archived from the original (xls) on 2015-06-26. Retrieved 2014-10-17.
  2. "Lobelia urens L." Flora-On . Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  3. The Conservation Management of the Heath Lobelia (lobelia urens): Report to the County Wildlife Trust by Janet Dinsdale, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth (PHD thesis 1996)
  4. Rose, Francis (2006). The Wild Flower Key. Frederick Warne & Co. p. 417. ISBN   978-0-7232-5175-0.
  5. "Homepage | Devon Wildlife Trust".
  6. http://tenis:8008/special/sssi/SSSIhome.cfm?frmid=1001297&frmvalue=%5B%5D
  7. Wild Devon The Magazine of the Devon Wildlife Trust,page 9 Winter 2009 edition