Lobelia telekii

Taxobox
name = "Lobelia telekii"


image_width = -
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
ordo = Asterales
familia = Lobeliaceae/Campanulaceae
subfamilia = Lobelioideae
genus = "Lobelia"
species = "L. telekii"
species_authority = Scwheinf
binomial = "Lobelia telekii"

"Lobelia telekii" is a member of the lobelia family found in the tropics. It lives at high altitudes on well-drained slopes. It is a semelparous species, putting all its reproductive efforts into producing large inflorescence, and then dying. For this reason the inflorescences can grow up to 3m (10ft) tall.

"Lobelia telekii" plants usually consist of a single rosette, which grows for many years, flowers and dies. However, a very small number of plants have multiple rosettes connected by an underground stemcite journal
last = Young
first = Truman P.
coauthors =
title = Evolution of semelparity in Mount Kenya lobelias
journal = Evolutionary Ecology
volume = 4
issue =
pages = 157–171
publisher = Chapman and Hall Ltd
date = 1990
url =
doi =
accessdate =] .

The flowers of "Lobelia telekii" are hidden among the large bracts within the inflorescence. The plant is a blue-green colourcite journal
last = Mabberley
first = D. J.
coauthors =
title = The Giant Lobelias: Pachycauly, biogeography, ornithophily and continental drift
journal = New Phytologist
volume = 74
issue =
pages = 365–374
publisher =
date = 1975
url =
doi =
accessdate =] .

"Lobelia telekii" lives on Mount Kenya between 3,500 and 5,000m (11,500-16,400ft). It lives in a drier environment than "Lobelia keniensis", and lives in the same habitats as rock hyrax. Hyrax sometimes eat the lobelia, but generally its toxic sap deters herbivores.cite journal
last = Young
first = Truman P.
coauthors =
title = The comparative demography of semelparous "Lobelia telekii" and iteroparous "Lobelia keniensis" on Mount Kenya
journal = Journal of Ecology
volume = 72
issue =
pages = 637–650
publisher =
date = 1984
url =
doi =
accessdate =] . Lobelia species on Mount Kenya are all pollinated by birdscite journal
last = Smith
first = Alan P.
coauthors = Truman P. Young
title = Tropical Alpine Plant Ecology
journal = Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics
volume = 18
issue =
pages = 137–158
publisher =
date = 1987
url =
doi =
accessdate = ] .

References