Lobelia laxiflora Kunth

Sierra madre lobelia (en), Lobélie à fleurs lâches (fr)

Species

Angiosperms > Asterales > Campanulaceae > Lobelia

Characteristics

Straggly shrubs or coarsely suffrutescent perennial herbs (0.2-)0.8-1.5(-3.0) m tall, stems glabrous to densely short-pubescent at least above. Principal leaves with blades glabrous to densely pubescent, subentire to more typically finely and evenly beset with callose-tipped serrations, linear-lanceolate to broadly elliptic or ovate, 4-12(-25) cm long, (0.5-)1.5-3.5(-4.5) cm wide, mostly 3-6(-10) times as long as wide, apically acute to acuminate, basally cuneate or rarely rounded. Inflorescences terminal with (10-) 20-60 flowers axillary to the bracts or the upper reduced leaves, mostly 15-30(-60) cm long. Pedicels 1-10 cm long, stiffly ascendant to loosely spreading, glabrous to somewhat villous, bi-bracteolate medially or to within 3-4 mm of the base, the filiform bracteoles 0.5-1.5 mm long. Flowers 2.7-4.8 cm long,; hypanthium glabrous or pubescent, campanulate or shallowly cup-shaped in flower, becoming broadly hemi-spheric in fruit; calyx lobes (1-)3-4(-6.5) mm long, entire, shortly deltoid, narrowly triangular to linear, glabrous or pubescent; corolla red, orange, or yellowish, externally glabrous to densely short-pubescent, the tube 1.6-2.5 mm long, fenestrate, the upper 2 lobes linear, 1-2 cm long, the lower lobes largely fused into a linear-oblong lip 1.0-1.8 cm long bearing 3 acute teeth 1-3(-10) mm long; filaments glabrous to densely spreading short-pubescent, connate above for about 2/3 their length, (1.8-)2.2-2.7(-3.5) cm long, the anther tube (5-)6-7 (-9) mm long, the 2 shorter anthers apically densely white-tufted with stiff tri-chomes, the 3 longer anthers apically moderately villous-hirsute or occasionally appressed villous throughout. Capsules more than half inferior, 5-10 mm high; seeds ellipsoid or oblong, nearly smooth but with faint longitudinal lines, 0.6-0.8 mm long.
More
Flowers all axillary. Pedicels 2.5-8 cm, shorter than the sustaining leaf. Sepals erect, 2.5-3.5 mm. Corolla tube bright red, 18-21 mm; lobes yellow to orange, 12-14 mm, lower lip short-3-lobed, posterior lobes linear. Leaves ovate-lanceolate, very shallowly dentate, 6-12 by 1.75-3 cm. Erect shrub 1.5-2.5 m.
Life form perennial
Growth form
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention deciduous
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 1.0 - 1.5
Mature height (meter) 0.25 - 0.51
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color
Blooming months -
Fruit color -
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway c3

Environment

Light 4-9
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity 4-8
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 10-12

Usage

Uses medicinal
Edible -
Therapeutic use Asthma (unspecified), Emetic (unspecified), Expectorant (unspecified), Inflammation (unspecified), Sore (unspecified), Internulcer (unspecified), Narcotic (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Can be grown by cuttings. Seeds needs stratification.
Mode cuttings
Germination duration (days) 15 - 20
Germination temperacture (C°) 18 - 23
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment stratification
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Flower

Lobelia laxiflora flower picture by Boy Portuguese (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Lobelia laxiflora world distribution map, present in Costa Rica, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and United States of America

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:142260-2
WFO ID wfo-0000815318
COL ID 3VRW9
BDTFX ID 103720
INPN ID 717295
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Lobelia cavanillesii Lobelia concolor Lobelia laxiflora Rapuntium laxiflorum Tupa persicifolia Tupa laxiflora Dortmanna amygdalina Dortmanna laxiflora Lobelia persicifolia Siphocampylus warszewiczii Lobelia laxiflora var. cavanillesii Lobelia laxiflora var. bicolor Lobelia laxiflora var. mollis

Lower taxons

Lobelia laxiflora subsp. laxiflora Lobelia laxiflora subsp. angustifolia Lobelia laxiflora var. laxiflora