Garden Lobelia - Lobelia erinus

Prostrate or scrambling plant growing to 8 to15 cm tall. The basal leaves are oval, 10 mm long and 4 to 8 mm broad, with a toothed margin; leaves higher on the stems are slender and sometimes untoothed. The flowers are blue to violet in wild plants, with a five-lobed corolla 8 to 20 mm across; they are produced in loose panicles.

Usually an escape from cultivation and likely to be found close to habitation.

Spring to autumn.

Perennial, but usually grown as an annual in Britain.

Widespread in Britain as a casual escape from cultivation.

Little recorded in Leicestershire and Rutland, but probably fairly frequent as a garden escape. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.