Lobelia erinus

Lobelia erinus is commonly known as the edging lobelia or wild lobelia, sometimes the garden lobelia and in Afrikaans commonly the sleutelblommetjie (little key flower). This is a short-lived, erect or spreading perennial or an annual reaching heights from 10 cm to 15 cm.

The lance-shaped to paddle-shaped leaves with toothed margins are mostly basal, about 15 mm long and 8 mm wide. The upper leaves may be narrower and untoothed.

The flowers grow stalked in leafy racemes. The sepal lobes are narrow. The corollas are white, violet, blue to dark blue, sometimes with white centres. Flower diameter is about 7 mm. The lower two anthers have tufts of white hairs at their tips.

Flowering happens from late winter to early summer, but in some conditions all year round.

The species distribution is in the west and the north of South Africa, from the Western Cape, the Northern Cape, the Free State and KwaZulu-Natal to Mpumalanga and Limpopo, as well as to the north into central Africa. The photo was taken in the Outeniqua Mountains.

The habitat is loamy and sandy soils on lower slopes, in riverine areas and on coastal flats where it is often or at least seasonally moist. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Vlok and Schutte-Vlok, 2015; Manning, 2009; Bond and Goldblatt, 1984; iNaturalist; Wikipedia; http://redlist.sanbi.org).