[[File:Giant lobelia and senecio plants.jpg|thumb|Giant lobelia and ''Senecio'' plants in Mt Kenya.]] '''Giant lobelia''' is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Lobelia''; many of these species are restricted to high altitude, alpine ecosystems. In East African highlands as many as 20 species were listed in 1934 (Bruce). A selection of species names is below. Locations where given are from 1934 (Bruce) which also provides a key to these species. *''Lobelia aberdarica'' East Africa: Aberdare Mountains and Mt. Kenya, Kenya; Mt Elgon, Uganda/Kenya *''Lobelia bambuseti'' East Africa: Aberdare Mountains and Mt. Kenya, Kenya *''[https://photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/photocontest/detail/giant-lobelia-rwenzori-mountains/ Lobelia bequaertii]'' East Africa: Rwenzori Mountains *''Lobelia deckenii'' East Africa: Kilimanjaro, Tanzania *''Lobelia fenniae'' East Africa *''Lobelia giberroa''<ref>Leakey, L. S. B. (1977). ''The Southern Kikuyu before 1903'', v. III, pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=I5lyAAAAMAAJ&q=Lobelia 1324]–5. London and New York: Academic Press. {{ISBN|0-12-439903-7}}</ref> East Africa: Rwenzori Mountains, Eastern Sudan and Aberdare Mountains, Kenya *''Lobelia gregoriana'' (syn. ''L. deckenii'' subsp. ''keniensis'', ''L. keniensis'') *''Lobelia lanuriensis'' East Africa *''Lobelia morogoroensis''<ref>{{Cite book|last=Knox|first=Eric Boyd|year=1993|title=Evolution of the Giant Senecios and Giant Lobelias in Eastern Africa|url={{Google books|FmQeAQAAMAAJ|page=42|keywords=morogoroensis+Abstract+Knox+Pocs|plainurl=yes}}|publisher=University of Michigan|page=42}} (http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/103434)</ref> *''Lobelia rhynchopetalum'' Abysinnia/Ethiopia *''Lobelia stuhlmannii'' East Africa: Rwenzori Mountains *''Lobelia telekii'' East Africa: Mt Elgon, Uganda/Kenya *''Lobelia wollastonii'' East Africa: Rwenzori and Virunga
The giant lobelia span Africa, Hawaii, South America, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia. Phylogenetic analysis strongly supports that this is a monophyletic group.<ref name=phylogenetics>{{cite journal | last = Antonelli | first = Alexandre | title = Higher level phylogeny and evolutionary trends in Campanulaceae subfam. Lobelioideae: Molecular signal overshadows morphology | journal = Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume = 46 | pages = 1–18 | year = 2007 | issue = 1 | doi =10.1016/j.ympev.2007.06.015 | pmid=18042405 }}</ref><ref name=antonelli>Antonelli, A. Have giant lobelias evolved several times independently? Life form shifts and historical biogeography of the cosmopolitan and highly diverse subfamily Lobelioideae (Campanulaceae) . BMC Biol 7, 82 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7007-7-82.</ref> The group is thought to have originated in the Chinese region.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Knox |first=Eric B. |last2=Li |first2=Chunjiao |date=2017 |title=The East Asian origin of the giant lobelias |url=https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3732/ajb.1700025 |journal=American Journal of Botany |language=en |volume=104 |issue=6 |pages=924–938 |doi=10.3732/ajb.1700025 |issn=0002-9122}}</ref> While many of the East African species have a basal rosette, representatives in Hawai'i, for example, exhibit a diversity of forms. ==References== {{Reflist}}
== Other sources == * E. A. Bruce. “The Giant Lobelias of East Africa.” Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew), vol. 1934, no. 2, 1934, pp. 61–88. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/4118226. Accessed 14 June 2024.
Category:Lobelia
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