紫锤草组 zi chui cao zu

Speirema J. D. Hooker & Thomson, J. Proc. Linn. Soc., Bot. 2: 27. 1857.

Plants perennial, 0.3-2 m tall. Stems herbaceous or subshrubby. Flowers solitary in axils of little-reduced or unreduced leaves (rarely supplemented by a terminal 10-25-flowered raceme); pedicels ascending, spreading, sigmoid, or incurved, 1/10-3/4 as long as subtending leaf or bract, commonly ebracteolate. Corolla sub-bilabiate with 2 dorsal lobes and a trifid ventral lip. Anther tube 0.4-1.25 × as long as filament tube; ventral anthers bearded at apex with tufts of white filiform hairs. Fruit a berry, black-purple to violet or greenish, globose or obovoid. Seeds numerous, amber-colored or tan, broadly ellipsoid, subterete to slightly compressed or sometimes angular, small; testa striate-reticulate.

Five species: SE Asia, from NE India to Java; three species (one endemic) in China.

Lower Taxa

• Lobelia deleiensis C. E. C. Fischer
• Lobelia fangiana (F. E. Wimmer) S. Y. Hu
• Lobelia montana Reinwardt ex Blume