''Lobelia boykinii'' is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name Boykin's lobelia. It is native to the eastern United States, where it occurs from

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. There is also a disjunct occurrence in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

.''Lobelia boykinii''.
Center for Plant Conservation. This rhizomatous perennial herb produces a hollow stem up to 85 centimeters tall. The plant is

semi-aquatic In biology, semiaquatic can refer to various types of animals that spend part of their time in water, or plants that naturally grow partially submerged in water. Examples are given below. Semiaquatic animals Semiaquatic animals include: * Verte ...

, often growing in water for part of the year. The needle-like leaves are alternately arranged. The flowers are blue or white. They are pollinated by insects, especially

bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

s. Flowering is also affected by the water level. This plant grows in

cypress Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...

swamp A swamp is a forested wetland.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p. Swamps are considered to be transition zones because both land and water play a role in ...

s and other wet habitat types, such as meadows, bays, and ponds. A number of insect species have been observed visiting the plant, including '' Ceratina dupla'', ''

Augochlorella striata ''Augochlorella'' is a genus in the bee family Halictidae, commonly called sweat bees. They display metallic coloration, ranging from reddish to gold to bluish green, as is typical for other genera in the tribe Augochlorini. Identification and ...

'', '' Hylaeus confluens'', '' Hylaeus modestus'', '' Hoplitis truncata'', ''

Melissodes communis ''Melissodes communis'', the common long-horned bee, is a species of long-horned bee in the family Apidae Apidae is the largest family within the superfamily Apoidea, containing at least 5700 species of bees. The family includes some of the m ...

'', and '' Geron holosericeus''.Royo, A. A., et al. (2008)
Demographic constraints in three populations of ''Lobelia boykinii'': a rare wetland endemic.
''Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society'' 135(2) 189-99.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile
boykinii Flora of the Eastern United States Plants described in 1839 {{Campanulaceae-stub