Lobelia carens

Detailed description

Creeping, prostrate, moderately hairy to occasionally glabrous herb; rooting at leaf nodes. Leaves alternate, upright to spreading; lamina 2.5–7.2 × 1.5–6.0 mm, orbicular, suborbicular, to broadly elliptic, often oblanceolate to oblong in shade, green, blotched purple-brown, moderately hairy, hairs < 0.2 mm long and patent, rarely glabrous, midvein faint, lateral veins faint to obscure, margin with 5–7 prominent denticles or shallow teeth, apex obtuse to subacute; petiole 0.5–1.5 × 0.2–0.4 mm. Flowers hermaphrodite, resupinate, axillary, solitary; peduncle 0.5–27.0 × 0.3–0.6 mm. Calyx with short tube adnate to ovary; lobes 5, 1.2–1.5 × 0.4–0.8 mm, green, narrow triangular to lanceolate, underside glabrous to moderately hairy, upper surface glabrous or occasionally sparsely hairy near apex; apex subacute and with conspicuous, translucent, tip. Corolla up to 9.5 mm long in late bud, 6.0–8.0 mm diameter when open, white, with two green or yellow-green markings between the sinus of the front three corolla lobes, without conspicuous purple-violet blotches at the base of the three front corolla lobes; tube 2.5–4.5 mm long, 1.0–2.0 mm wide, fused, under surface glabrous to sparsely hairy, upper surface sometimes sparsely hairy; lobes 5, 2.4–5.0 × 0.8–1.5 mm, narrow-lanceolate, recurved, apex subacute. Filaments 3.0–3.6 × 0.2–0.3 mm, fused below anthers, adnate from base to upper half of the corolla tube, white occasionally flushed pale blue in distal part, becoming translucent and flushed green toward proximal part. Anthers united into a tube around style, 0.9–1.5 mm long, purple-brown, curved over at top. Nectary annular, 0.2–0.4 mm high, green to yellow-green; apex sparsely hairy. Ovary 1.5–2.5 × 1.1–1.4 mm, green, usually moderately hairy, occasionally glabrous, apex obtuse. Style 4.3–5.5 × 0.2–0.4 mm, white to pale green, exserted beyond anthers. Stigma bilobed, lobes 0.3–0.7 × 0.4–1.0 mm, pink. Capsule 2.4–3.5 × 2.0–2.8 mm, green, often flushed purple-brown; thin-walled, seeds visible through wall, indehiscent and without apical valves, disintegrating with age; apex crowned with persistent style base; base obtuse to slightly cuneate. Seed broadly elliptic to obovate-oblong, olive green, semi-glossy, 0.4–0.5 mm long.