Cardinale De Dortmann

Lobelia dortmanna L. Sp. PI. 929. 1753
Lobelia lacuslris SaXish.VioAr. 128. 1796. CHas^A on Lobelia Dortmanna ,.) Dortmanna lacustris G. Don, Gen. Hist. 3: 715. 1834. Rapunlium Dortmanna Presl, Prodr. Mon. Lob. 18. 1836. Aquatic; glabrous throughout; stem fistulous, upright, unbranched (rarely with 1-2 branches), 5-100 cm. high (averaging 30-35 cm.'), usually immersed about two-thirds of its height (all except the inflorescence), green above water, and green to stramineous below, leafless, bearing 7 or fewer linear fleshy bracts 1-7 mm. long; leaves 2-27 (averaging 15-20), basal (plant rarely developing 1-3 cauline leaves 2-4 cm. long), linear, entire, obtuse or short-acute, fleshy, 2-5 (8) cm. long by 1-4 mm. wide when pressed; inflorescence 10-20 (45) cm. long, often more or less secund, very loosely 1-ll-flowered (averaging 5-6); pedicels ebracteolatc, in fruit 4—13 mm. long, curi-ing in fruit so that the flower is often horizontal while the fruit is pendent; flower-bracts obtuse, fleshy, entire, 2-3 mm. long, with a broad base; flower 12-22 mm. long, including hypanthium; corolla pale violet-blue to white, pubescent at the base of the lower Up, otherwise glabrous, the tube 6-7 mm. long, entire except for the dorsal fissure, which may extend only to a point 1-2 mm. from the base, the lobes of the lower lip long-ovate, nearly equaling the tube, not sharply reflexed, the two upper lobes linear, curved upward; filament-tube 4-6 mm. long (averaging about 4.5), the filaments pubescent below, coimate most of their length; anther-tube 1.3-1.7 mm. long, dark gray or black, the two smaller anthers heaTly tufted, the three larger densely bearded, especially near the tip; hypanthiiun in anthesis conic, becoming long-cylindric, barrel-shaped or obconic in fruit, usually with a longattenuate base, 4-5 mm. wide by 6-12 mm. long. Capsule three-fom-ths inferior or more; cal>Tt-lobes entire, short-lanceolate or deltoid, blunt, 1.5-2.5 mm. long; auricles none; seeds dark brown, with a prominent square base at one end, 0.6-0.8 mm. long.
Type locality: Europe (herb. Linn., photo!).
Distribution; Newfoundland and central Ontario to northeastern Pennsylvania, west to northem Minnesota; Oregon to British Columbia; northwestern Europe.