Wetland Plants and Plant Communities of Minnesota and Wisconsin

BROOK LOBELIA

(Lobelia kalmii L.)

BELLFLOWER FAMILY (Campanulaceae)

IND. STATUS: OBL

FIELD CHARACTERISTICS: A perennial herb 10-40 cm. high. Basal leaves are spatula-shaped, and may be deciduous. The stem leaves are linear. The inflorescence is a loose raceme. The small (7-13 mm. long) flowers are blue with a white "eye". The flower is composed of an erect, upper, 2-lobed lip and spreading, lower, 3-lobed lip. In flower from July to October.

ECOLOGICAL NOTES: Brook lobelia is characteristic of calcareous fens and shores. It also occurs on calcareous soils of wet to wet-mesic prairies and wet lake dune flats if groundwater seepages are present.

SOURCE: Gleason and Cronquist (1991).

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