Lobelia laxa
Lobelia laxa
It seems a few of the lobelia erinus in the Camferkloof area are actually the closely related Lobelia laxa. Not generally known in the Western Cape.
Lobelia laxa : Known in KZN, EC , LS and Free State.
Info below recieved 14 july 2023 on one of my observations from rion-c.
Lobelia laxa
a member of Subfamily Lobelioideae Lobelia Subfamily
"I have yet to find a good description for this species. If there is a complete book of KZN or EC plants, it should hopefully be in there.
So far, I have found that Lobelia laxa is a perennial herb up to 40 cm in height, typically found at higher altitudes (1200 - 1800 m) and distributed across LES, EC, FS and KZN (according to africanplantdatabase). There are at least two records in BODATSA from the mountains north of Sedgefield which led me to believe it may occur in WC too.
My identifications have been made by comparing the observations with type specimens and other collections. The following description is not official but rather what I deduce from the specimens. L. laxa appears to be taller than L. erinus with very obvious rosettes (similar to Wimmerella arabidea). It has blue flowers with longer, more slender sepals than L. erinus that are almost reminiscent of Delostemon flowers. The patterning on the flower is white (maybe also yellow) in the throat and dark blue lines extending along the sepals. The lower leaves are crenate and obovate, and form a rosette with leaves higher up the stem becoming more slender and lanceolate. The leafless part of the stem is longer than in L. erinus.
L. laxa is also a close relative of L. erinus and L. fervens (Kagame, 2021).
I'm not certain about my identification on this observation and a few others. The height, multiple spindly stems and flower shape seem to fit L. laxa better than L. erinus though."
"These links below contain most of the information I could find on this species:
https://www.gbif.org/species/5409180 (occurrences)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7954781/ (systematics)
https://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/taxa/index.php?taxon=Lobelia%20laxa (more specimens and locations)
https://plants.jstor.org/search?genus=Lobelia&species=laxa (specimens)
https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/name/Lobelia_laxa# (overview of literature but includes text on Lobelia laxiflora, a different species)
https://africanplantdatabase.ch/en/nomen/specie/108683/lobelia-laxa-macowan (very basic description)
https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/77177223-1"
Other observations evieb :-
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/35847608
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/104269748
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