Stats

Lifespan

Perennial

Size

Medium

Diet

Photosynthetic

Biome

Freshwater wetland

Range

North America

Movement

Sessile

Breeding

Seeds

Defense

Toxins

Status

Common

About

A wildflower of wet meadows and stream banks bearing tall spikes of vivid blue, two-lipped tubular flowers. Despite the name, it contains toxic alkaloids and was once used in folk remedies for syphilis, giving rise to its species name siphilitica.

Life cycle

1. 1.
   seed

   A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2. 2.
   sprout

   A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3. 3.
   sapling

   A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4. 4.
   mature

   Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom

Plantae

Phylum

Tracheophyta

Class

Magnoliopsida

Order

Asterales

Family

Campanulaceae

Genus

Lobelia

Species

Lobelia siphilitica