Garden Lobelia

Garden Lobelia at base of a wall, Somerset

White form, Beaminster, Dorset

Front view of flower

Side view - corolla tube and calyx

Corolla tube and calyx from above

Small, leaf-like bracts

Leaves
Lobelia erinus
Campanulaceae
June to September - longer in mild winters in the South and
the Southwest.
The garden plant is found throughout the country.
The escape is scattered throughout the country but is most
common in the Midlands and the South and least common
in the North.
See the BSBI distribution map for Garden Lobelia
The garden plant is found throughout the country.
It is a neophyte, which was introduced into England in the 1750s
and first noted in the wild in the 1910s.
It grows in waste places and in the cracks of pavements and
at the base of walls.
It varies from being a casual to fully naturalised. I have seen it
growing in the same place at the base of a wall over 5 years.
Garden Lobelia is a non-native, sprawling, annual, biennial or
perennial herb, growing up to 20cm.
The flowers are made up of a corolla tube with 5 lobes – 3 are
larger and lip-like and 2 are small and rabbit-ear-like.
It is usually blue, especially those growing in the wild, but
cultivated flowers range from various shades of blue, purple,
red and white.
The sepals are pointed and spreading.
Bracts are small and leaf-like.
Lower leaves are lanceolate to oval and toothed.
Upper leaves are lanceolate to linear..
Stems are erect to sprawling.
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