Lobelia gaudichaudii DC.

Genus: Lobelia section Galeatella

Range: O'ahu; Ko'olau Ranges, wet forest, 800-950 m.

Growth form: Treelet, 0.8-2 m tall.

First collected by Gaudichaud in 1837 and illustrated in his 1842 Atlas from the Bonité, but first described by De Candolle in 1838 from the herbarium specimen. Gray added a variant (Kauaensis), but this is now treated as Lobelia x kauaiensis.

How to identify: On Oahu, there are only two Lobelia from section Galeatella, this species and Lobelia koolauensis. L. koolauensis is a species from bogs with branching inflorescences. L. gaudichaudii is found in forests and has an unbranched inflorescence.

This plant is dominated by its inflorescence; vegetatively it appears as a small treelet or subshrub with a densely scarred stem with a spherical pom-pom of leaves at the tip. Other Hawaiian Lobelia that have glabrous leaves are: L. dunbariae from Moloka'i, L. gloria-montis from Maui and Moloka'i, L. x kauaiensis from Kaua'i, L. monostachya from O'ahu, L. niihauensis from Ni'ihau, Kaua'i and O'ahu, and L. villosa from Kaua'i. Between those on O'ahu: this species differs from L. macrostachys in that it has smooth leaves whereas L. macrostachys has ribbed leaves (Wawra, 1873). This species differs from L. niihauensis in that is is single-stemmed whereas L. niihauensis has multiple branches.

Images:

Sources:

• De Candolle, 1838;
• Gaudichaud, 1842;
• Gray, 1861;
• Mann, 1868;
• Wawra, 1873;
• Hillebrand, 1888 (not including the plants of Maui or Kaua'i, which are L. gloria-montis and L. x kauaiensis respectively);
• Rock, 1917 (var. coccinea);
• Rock, 1919;
• Degener, 1938;
• Fosberg & Hosaka, 1938 - their var. koolauensis is now L. koolauensis;
• Wimmer, 1953;
• Degener, 1960 (as part of description of genus Galeatella, as L. gaudichaudii, not including var. koolauensis which is now L. koolauensis);
• Wimmer, 1968;
• Wagner et al., 1999.