Lobelia pubescens

Lobelia pubescens is a spreading herb, annual or perennial, reaching 50 cm in height.

The stems and leaves are hairy. The leaves are lance-shaped to oval, toothed along the margins and petiolate, i.e. they have petioles or stalks.

 Flowering begins in spring and continues to the beginning of autumn although, when conditions permit, there may be blooms all year round. The picture was taken in December.

The species distribution is along the southern coast of the Western Cape. This white-flowering plant grows in semi-shade in the Fernkloof Nature Reserve at Hermanus.

The habitat is sheltered, often moist, rocky slopes in fynbos. There are five recognised varieties of L. pubescens, none of them considered threatened in habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2009; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).