Lobelia siphilitica color

Greetings all,

This past weekend I was doing some wild-flowering and found a very unusual
specimen of this plant - instead of the usual intense blue flowers, this one
has nice lavender flowers with just a hint of pink.  In the past, I have 
found the alba form of this species, but other than that; the color has always
been the same deep blue.  There are only two large-flowered Lobelias in our
area - L. siliphitica and L. cardinalis - and I've never seen any mention of
any hybridization between the two.  Preliminary identification was based on 
experience, but since the color was so unusual (at least to me), I did key
it out using _Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas_ and arrived at
the same ID.  None of my perennial books or native plant books mentions any
variation in color except the alba form so I'm thinking that this is an 
unusual form of this plant.  Oh yeah, I'm sure that the color isn't an aging
effect since all flowers on the plant are the same color from the newest to
the oldest.

Thanks,
John
jford@runet.edu 
in the mountains of southwest virginia zone 6b


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