Lobelia ionantha

Detailed description

Creeping, prostrate, usually glabrous herb; rooting at leaf nodes. Leaves alternate, upright to spreading; lamina 3.0–9.0 × 2.0–7.0 mm, , green, usually blotched purple-brown, orbicular, suborbicular, to broadly elliptic, often oblanceolate and oblong in shade glabrous to rarely hairy, hairs when present < 0.2 mm long and patent, 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 × 0.2–0.5 mm. Flowers hermaphrodite, axillary, solitary; peduncle 0.5–27.0 mm long, 0.4–0.6 mm wide, usually glabrous. Calyx with short tube adnate to ovary; lobes 5, 1.3–2.8 × 0.4–0.8 mm, green, narrow triangular to lanceolate, abaxial surface usually glabrous hairy, adaxial surface glabrous or occasionally sparsely hairy near apex; apex subacute and with conspicuous usually translucent tip. Corolla 8.0–12.0 mm diam. when open, white to pale blue, two green or yellow-green markings between the sinus of the front three corolla lobes, with conspicuous purple-violet blotches at the base of the three front corolla lobes; tube 3.5–6.0 mm long, 1.0–2.0 mm wide, fused, abaxial surface glabrous to sparsely hairy, adaxial surface sometimes sparsely hairy; lobes 5, 4.0–6.0 × 1.2–2.4 mm, narrow-lanceolate, recurved, abaxial surface glabrous to rarely sparsely hairy, abaxial surface glabrous, apex subacute. Filaments 4.0–7.5 mm long, 0.2–0.3 mm wide, 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 1.2–1.6 mm long, united into a tube around style, purple-brown, curved over at top, with small central pore < 0.1 mm diam.; 2 awns and several hairs present at apex on lower anthers, awns 0.2–0.4 mm long, hairs < 0.2 mm long. Ovary 1.5–2.5 × 1.1–1.4 mm, green, glabrous to moderately hairy, apex obtuse. Style 5.0–8.0 mm long, 0.2–0.5 mm wide, white to pale green, exserted beyond anthers. Stigma bilobed, lobes 0.3–0.7 × 0.4–1.0 mm, pink, subtended by whorl of hairs. Capsule 2.5–5.0 × 1.4–2.5 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, 0.4–0.5 mm long; olive green semi-glossy, glabrous, broadly elliptic to obovate-oblong, slightly compressed and often squared with flattened faces.