Lobelia dortmanna - Water Lobelia

Phylum: Magnoliophyta - Class: Liliopsida - Order: Asterales - Family: Campanulaceae

Identification

Water lobelia has a submerged rosette of long narrow cylindrical leaves from which the long flowering shoot rises above the surface and bears a loose one-sided spike of pale blue flowers.

Habitat

This aquatic perennial plant is found in shallow upland lakes that have not been polluted by eutrophying chemical fertilisers or organic run-off from intensive livestock farming.

Distribution

Water lobelia is now a rare plant in most heavily-populated parts of the British Isles, but it can still be seen in several lakes in Wales and Scotland as well as in some parts of Ireland.

The plants shown on this page were photographed on a upland lake in South Wales in July.