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Ceylon Lobelia
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Ceylon Lobelia
P Native Photo: Nidhan Singh
Common name: Ceylon Lobelia
Botanical name: Lobelia zeylanica    Family: Campanulaceae (Bell flower family)
Synonyms: Lobelia hirta, Lobelia affinis, Lobelia succulenta

Ceylon Lobelia is a prostrate succulent herb, with stems rooting at lower nodes, then ascending up to 20 cm high; leaf-stalk 1-20 mm long, Leaves are ovate, 1-4 x 1-3.5 cm, tinged with purple beneath, nearly entire to repand-toothed, finely velvet-hairy to hairless on both surfaces. Flowers are borne in leaf-axils, the flower-stalks 1-3.5 cm long; calyx tube 2-4 mm long, sepals lanceshaped to triangular, 3-5 mm long. Flowers are 4-9 mm long, pale blue or lavender, dorsally slit to base, the tube nearly white; filaments 3-5 mm long, the anthers 0.8-1.5 mm long, with apical hair clusters. Capsules are ovoid, 3-6 mm long, yellowish brown. Ceylon Lobelia is found in Eastern Himalayas, from Nepal to NE India, at altitudes of 300-1500 m, Western Ghats, SE Asia and Sri Lanka. Flowering: All year.

Identification credit: J.M. Garg Photographed in Tippi, Arunachal Pradesh.

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