Berlandier's Lobelia

Lobelia berlandieri A. DC. in DC. Prodr. 7: 367. 1839
Dortmannia Berlandieri Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 972. 1891.
Lobelia calcarea F. E. Wimmer, Repert. Sp. Nov. 38: 83, in part. 1935. (Pringle 3369, isotype. Gray !) Annual; stems erect or ascending, 10-50 cm. high, stout or deciunbent and prostrate, green (rarely purplish-tinged near base), simple or with few-20 ascending branches from the base of the plant (the plant becoming bushy thereby), the diameter at base 1-3 mm., pubescence wanting or of sparse fine whitish hairs, these mostly near the base, hollow, blunt, cylindrical, collapsing when dry; leaves cauline, few12, membranous or papery when dry, entirely glabrous or cihate near base and margins and on the petiole, the blades elliptic or lanceolate to ovate, 1-3.5 cm. wide, 1.8-5 cm. long, mostly 1.5-2 times as long as wide, those of the middle leaves largest, the lower broader and the lowest sometimes crowded near base of stem, forming a basal rosette; margins subentire to coarsely and irregularly toothed, both sorts often on the same plant; apex of blades obtuse or rounded (at least in the lower leaves), the base mostly cuneate, subpetiolar, or the lower leaves with a distinct margined petiole 0.5-2.5 cm. long; inflorescence usually secund, few-25 cm. long, loosely few-35-flowered, appearing pedunculate, the stem usually naked below it for a distance of 12 cm. or less; pedicels slender, mostly 10-20 mm. long in fruit, glabrous or rarely somewhat bristly, usually strongly incurs'ed in fruit, each with a pair of tiny bracteoles at base; flower-bracts Unear-subulate, 3-6 (9) mm. long (or the lowest larger, leafy), mostly entire, the margins smooth or ciliate; flower 10-13 mm. long, including hypanthiimi; corolla pale or bright purplish-blue, with a white eye (occasionally pure white), the lower lip with 2 yellowish-green tubercles at base; corolla glabrous without, the inner surface hairy within the tube and at the base of the lower lip, or glabrous, the tube (3.5) 4-5 mm. long, entire except for the dorsal fissure which extends to a point I mm. from base or less, the lobes of the lower lip oblong or obovate, 1.5-3.5 mm. wide, 4-7 mm. long, often shorter than or barely equaling the tube, the two upper lobes linear, erect, 1 ram. mde by 3-5 ram. long; filament-tube 2.5-3.5 mm. long, glabrous distally, the filaments free about half their length and there pubescent; anther-tube 1.0-1.5 nmi. long, light bluish-gray, the two shorter anthers white-tufted at tips, the three longer ones sparsely ciliate on the backs; hypanthium in anthesis short-campanulate or obconic, glabrous, in fruit becoraing campanulate, plainly longer than broad, 2.5-3 mm. across; capsule eUipsoid, one-half to three-fourths inferior, 3-5 (6) mm. long; calyx-lobes subulate, entire, 1.5-2.5 mm. long, glabrous; seeds ellipsoid, smooth and shining, polished, about 0.5 mm. long.
TvTE locality: Near Tampico. Tamaulipas, Berlandier 106 (herb. DC, photo!). Distributio.n: Southern Texas to Tabasco, mostly east of the Sierra Madre.