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Wild flowers of the north-eastern states

Chapter 35: LOBELIA FAMILY. LOBELIACEÆ.
By Ellen Miller
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Nature/Gardening/Animals

About This Book

This illustrated manual gathers 308 common wildflowers of the northeastern United States, each drawn life-size and accompanied by plain-language descriptions emphasizing habit, color, and growth rather than technical dissection. Organized by floral families in the sequence of Gray's Manual and arranged for seasonal bloom, entries include leaves, stems, and often whole growth, with occasional shrubs, vines, and fruit shown where notable. Aimed at amateur naturalists, it favors recognizable traits and folk names to ease identification, offers practical notes on variations and habitat, and pairs accurate botanical classification with accessible, pictorial presentation.

LOBELIA FAMILY.
LOBELIACEÆ.

Spiked Lobelia.Lobelia spicata.

Found in pastures and waysides during July and August.

The single, very erect stalk varies from 1 to 2 feet in height, and is very slender, grooved, and noticeably twisted; its fibre is fine, and near the foot it is hairy to the touch. In color green, with a trace of red at the leaf.

The foot-leaves are large, and a wide oval in shape, and set on margined stems; the upper leaves are a long narrow, oval shape, diminishing in size to a mere line, and are set immediately upon the stalk; the margins are irregularly notched, they are downy to the touch, and light green, tending to yellow. Their arrangement is alternate.

The small flower is 2-lipped, the lower lip being 3-parted with a pair of swellings at the throat of the tube, the upper lip divided by a cleft down the length of the tube; all parts of the corolla are sharp-pointed, and flaring from the 5-parted calyx; the texture is fine and smooth, and the color a pure pale lavender, faintly lined with dark, white near the throat, and pinkish in the tube, the green calyx being also tinted with pink. The flowers, on short foot-stems, are set alternately, and close, in a long, very pretty spike.

There is something individual about the alert carriage of this plant, its whole gesture is erect and animated. It grows numerously in pastures, though in less close fellowship than its little brook sister.