| Lobelia telekii | |
|---|---|
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Campanulaceae |
| Subfamily: | Lobelioideae |
| Genus: | Lobelia |
| Species: | L. telekii Scwheinf |
| Binomial name | |
| Lobelia telekii |
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Lobelia telekii is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family, Campanulaceae, that is found only in the alpine zones of Mount Kenya, Mount Elgon, and the Aberdare Mountains. It lives at high altitudes on well-drained slopes. It is a semelparous species, putting all its reproductive effort into producing single massive large inflorescence up to 3 metres (10 ft) tall, and then dying.[1]
L. telekii plants usually consist of a single rosette, which grows for many years, flowers once and then dies. However, a very small number of plants have multiple rosettes connected by an underground stem.[1]
The bird-pollinated flowers[2] of L. telekii are hidden among the large bracts within the inflorescence. The leaves and bracts are blue-green, and the flowers pruple.[3] On Mount Kenya, Lobelia telekii lives at elevations of 3,500–5,000 metres (11,000–16,000 ft). It inhabits the drier hill slopes, while Lobelia keniensis prefers the moister valley bottoms. Hybrids do occur. THe hill slope often have rocky moraines that are home to Mount Kenya rock hyrax, which sometimes eat lobelia leaves and inflorescences[4] , but herbivores are generally deterred by the lobelia's toxic sap, which contains alkaloids, including the class of lobeline.
References
- ^ a b Young, Truman P. (1990). "Evolution of semelparity in Mount Kenya lobelias". Evolutionary Ecology (Chapman and Hall Ltd) 4: 157–171. doi:.
- ^ Smith, Alan P.; Truman P. Young (1987). "Tropical Alpine Plant Ecology". Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 18: 137–158. doi:.
- ^ Mabberley, D. J. (1975). "The Giant Lobelias: Pachycauly, biogeography, ornithophily and continental drift". New Phytologist 74: 365–374. doi:.
- ^ Young, Truman P. (1984). "The comparative demography of semelparous Lobelia telekii and iteroparous Lobelia keniensis on Mount Kenya". Journal of Ecology 72: 637–650.
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