Lobelia elongata Small. Common name: Longleaf Lobelia. Phenology: Aug-Oct. Habitat: River and stream margins, floodplain forests, marshes, tidal marshes, bogs, pine savannas. Distribution: Primarily a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic from DE to se. GA, rarely inland onto the lower Piedmont of NC and SC.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Synonymy ⓘ: = C, F, G, GW2, K4, S, Tat, Va, McVaugh (1936a), Spaulding & Barger (2016); = Lobelia glandulosa Walter var. glabra A.DC.; < Lobelia elongata Small — RAB. Basionym: Lobelia elongata Small 1903
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Wetland Indicator Status:
- Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: OBL (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
- Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: OBL (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
Heliophily ⓘ: 7
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© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce A. Sorrie | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
Intro: Erect perennial of river and stream margins, floodplain forests, marshes, bogs and pine savannas.
Stems: Stems mostly unbranched, smooth.
Leaves: Leaves alternate, lance-oval to lance-shaped, to 4 in. long, usually sharply toothed and smooth.
Inforescence:
Flowers: Flowers in a narrow, terminal spike (flowers mostly on one side), each on a short stalk with 2 narrow bracts at the base; blue; bilaterally symmetric and tubular; opening to 2 spreading lips, the upper one smaller and 2-lobed, the lower one 3-lobed. The calyx is also tubular with 5 spreading, linear lobes ("teeth").
Fruits: Fruit a rounded capsule.
Comments: Primarily a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic, rarely found inland (lower Piedmont, NC and SC).
Height: 1-4 ft.
plant sale text: Lobelia elongata is an excellent plant to include in a rain garden. Native along the coastal plain from Delaware to Louisiana, this plant does not mind a wet spot and can handle periodic inundation as a matter of course. The leaves are slender and grass-like. Its characteristic stick-out-your-tongue medium blue flowers are not as large as those of its showier kin, but the color more than makes up for the size difference.
bloom table text:
description: Erect perennial of river and stream margins, floodplain forests, marshes, bogs and pine savannas.
stems: Stems mostly unbranched, smooth.
leaves: Leaves alternate, lance-oval to lance-shaped, to 4 in. long, usually sharply toothed and smooth.
inflorescence:
flowers: Flowers in a narrow, terminal spike (flowers mostly on one side), each on a short stalk with 2 narrow bracts at the base; blue; bilaterally symmetric and tubular; opening to 2 spreading lips, the upper one smaller and 2-lobed, the lower one 3-lobed. The calyx is also tubular with 5 spreading, linear lobes ("teeth").
fruits: Fruit a rounded capsule.
comments: Primarily a Southeastern Coastal Plain endemic, rarely found inland (lower Piedmont, NC and SC).
cultural notes:
germination code:
native range: southeastern United States
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