Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs; sometimes wiry and/or appearing leafless
Leaves alternate, opposite or whorled, variable, sometimes radical
Flowers in leafy spikes or racemes, or axillary and solitary, or clustered at ends of branches
Calyx much shorter than corolla tube, rarely oblique; lobes often ciliate, sometimes scabrid
Corolla cleft down one side to base, 5-lobed, regular or (1)2-lipped, rarely with palate on one lip, rarely with pouch at base; upper lip 3-lobed or of 2 distinct, clawed petals; lower lip 2- or 3-fid
Stamens attached to base of corolla, rarely higher up; filaments usually cohering, some or all bearded
Ovary inferior to superior, 2-locular, with 1-many ovules in each locule, on axile placentas; style linear, rarely with hairy collar below stigma; stigma subglobose, 2-lobed, hairy
Fruit a capsule, 2-valved, often crowned with persistent calyx
Seeds usually many
x = 7 (6, 8) (B-chromosomes, aneuploids, polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Lobelia L.
Linnaeus: 929 (1753)
Wimmer: 408, 775 (1953)
Wimmer: 855 (1968)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 300, cosmopolitan, mostly tropics and subtropics
Southern Africa: Species ± 70, all regions
References:
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum, edn 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
WIMMER, F.E. 1953. Campanulaceae-Lobelioideae. Das Pflanzenreich Heft 107: 408, 775
WIMMER, F.E. 1968. Lobelioideae, Cyphioideae. Das Pflanzenreich Heft 108
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
