Out of Africa - Garden Plants – Lobelia

Name - named after the Belgian botanist, Mathias de L’Obel. He often used Lobelius as his latinised name (all science was carried out in Latin until around the 1800s) from which Lobelia is derived.

Description - Species in this genus are blue, purple, white or pink flowering annuals, perennial herbs, and small shrubs. One way to be sure you have a lobelia in your hand is to count things – in the true lobelia the petals, sepals and stamens are all in fives.

Origins – The most unusual and rare members of this family come from the East African mountains, and are the giant or tree-lobelias; tall, columnar plants which grow for about two decades, then flower once and die. These curiosities of the plant kingdom are remarkable also because some species are found on one mountain only, such as Lobelia keniensis on Mount Kenya and Lobelia dekenii on Mount Kilimanjaro. However, we’re concerned here with the more commonplace varieties. The long flowering period, ease of cultivation and stunning flowers have made many Lobelia species popular in the horticultural industry – most gardeners love it because it’s a hardy plant for cultivation in sheltered locations (which are preferably frost free or rarely frost – it’s ‘fairly hardy’ rather than ‘fully hardy’), and some species will tolerate dense shade. In addition, propagation can be from seed which germinates well, without treatment, after storage in the dark for about 2 months. Once ripe the dried seed heads release seed rather explosively and if you have a plant from which you particularly want to obtain seed, it’s worth tying a paper bag over the flower stem when the seed capsule is close to maturity, to ensure that the seed does not escape.

Africa lobelia photograph by bc anna, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

© blueworldgardener.co.uk