Re: Lobelias from the Mountains of the Moon


 On Sat, 14 Dec 1996, A.T.Stanley wrote:

 > I'm reading Patrick M.Synge's book 'In Search of Flowers' in which he
 > describes his trip to the East African Equitorial Mountains in the 1930s.He
 > has wonderful photographs and descriptions of Lobelia bequaertii..'
 > .L.elgonensis and L.wollastonii sound equally
 > desirable.
 > He writes that thirty years later he saw some of these species of lobelia
 > growing very well in the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.Can any
 > MEDIT-members from that area tell me if they are still there, thirty years
 > further on,and if any seed company supplies seed?



 I am delighted to say that the San Francisco area continues the tradition
 of growing Giant Lobelias - a very happy 'find' when I was in California
 this summer. The Strybing Arboretum has large patches of a
 plant misidentified as L. gibberoa, and the UC Botanic Garden at Berkeley
 has L. longisepala (from Tanzania): in one or the other I saw true L.
 gibberoa as well. The not-gibberoa at Strybing may be (L. deckenii ssp.)
 bequaertii or possibly L. mildbraedii which characteristically forms
  sprawly clumps with erect inflorescences.

 The East African giant lobelias divide into those found in semi-shade in
 humid conditions in forest - L. gibberoa, L. longisepala are typical of
 this. They tend to grow large rosettes on elongated stems; the inflorescence
  is produced terminally and may reach 3m+ in L. gibberoa.  The
 moorland/alpine species are much more compact and even more stunning, as
 the tight rosettes sit on the ground and the inflorescence is chunkier;
 these include the L. deckenii complex (including bequaertii & elgonensis)
 and wollastonii (Wollaston was a don at Cambridge with an interest in
 mountain regions: he was eventually murdered in his rooms at King's
 College by a mad undergraduate, who burst in and shot him).

 I grow Lobelia deckenii ssp. deckenii from Kilimanjaro as a hardy plant
 outdoors in southern England: it grows slowly, but the rosette is quite
 satisfying now. I have no doubt that L. gibberoa and many others would
 survive outside in sheltered places in Ireland and other places with very
 light frost.

 Seeds are occasionally available when plant hunters visit East Africa.

 Although Patrick Synge talks about them in 'In Search of Flowers', as
 Jane mentioned, his best account of them is in the classic
 'The Mountains of the Moon' written in the 30s, which describes his
 plant-hunting travels in East Africa. A few months ago I sent Jane a
 cutting of Impatiens tinctoria, which is a descendant of Synge's
 collection on Mt. Elgon, described in 'The Mountains of the Moon'. The
 book was reprinted recently and copies are available fairly easily.

 The best modern reference to Giant Lobelias is by Eric Knox; The species
 of giant senecio and giant lobelia in eastern Africa. Contributions from
 the University of Michigan Herbarium 19 (1993). I had the pleasure of
 meeting Eric in Tanzania: he studied the lobelias for his doctorate,
 which meant travelling round East Africa on public transport (!!!), visiting
 remote mountains and pressing specimens of them, From my own experience I
 can assure everyone that there are few things more difficult to press
 than the inflorescence of a fleshy lobelia! He was generally known as
 'Mad Dog Knox'. I remember that, back in 1990, we argued about the
 status of a Lobelia in the upper parts of the forest on Kilimanjaro,
 which I said was new but he said wasn't: anyway it appears as a new
 subspecies in his 1993 publication!

 John Grimshaw
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