Lobelia aurita (Brandegee) T. J. Ayers

Heterotoma aurita Brand. Proc. Calif. Acad. II. 3: 149. 1891
Lobelia coiensis M. E. Jones, Contr. W. Bot. IS: 152. 1929. (Jones 24147, Pomona!) Lobelia amabilis M. E. Jones, Contr. W. Bot. 18: 68. 1933. (Jones 27428, Pomona!)
Annual, from a woody taproot; stems erect, simple or with slender ascending lateral branches, slightly woody at base, the maximum diameter about 3 mm., purplish below, 10-65 cm. high, glabrous above, whitish-pilose below; leaves cauline, few-10, spreading or appressed, thin and papery, pubescent on the petiole and on the veins beneath, and sparsely so on both surfaces, or nearly glabrous, the blades 1.5-3 cm. broad by 2-5 cm. long, mostly 1.5-2 times as long as broad, lanceolate to ovate, the lower broader, at least the upper ones acute at tip, the lower obtuse or rounded, rarely acute, the base of blade rounded or cuneate, or those of the lowest cordate, the margins of the upper leaves coarsely and irregularly sharp-serrate, usually finely callose-denticulate between the serrations, those of the lower leaves less deeply serrate, the teeth .sometimes rounded, the petiole slender, 1.5-2.5 cm. long; inflorescence strongly secund, few-22 cm. long, few-30-flowered, on a peduncle 10-23 cm. long; pedicels filiform, 10-30 mm. long in fruit, smooth and glabrous, somewhat 2-winged below, ebracteolate ; flower-bracts linear-subulate, acute, entire, ciliate-margined or glabrous, 2.0-4.5 mm. long; flower 13-16 mm. long, including hypanthium; corolla blue-purple (magenta according to Gentry), glabrous, the lower lip rough within at base, the tube 3.5-5.0 mm. long, fenestrate laterally (rarely not so), the two upper lobes linear or oblanceolate, 1.0-1.5 mm. wide by 4-6 mm. long, the lobes of the lower lip 3-4 mm. wide, 5-6 mm. long; filament-tube 3.0-3.7 mm. long, mostly included, the filaments united about half their length or less, glabrous or bristlyciliate on the outer side near base; anther-tube 1.6-2.0 mm. long, bluish-gray, the two shorter anthers white-tufted at tip, the three larger bearded on the backs; hypanthium unilaterally ellipsoid or campanulate, glabrous, the lower side very short, produced backward into the short conic spur 1-2 mm. long; hypanthium-tube in fruit 2-3 mm. in diameter; capsule twothirds to three-fourths inferior, 4.5-5.5 mm. long; calyx-lobes narrowly triangular, entire, acute, glabrous, 1.7-3.0 mm. long, green or purplish, the two lower ones about the middle of the spur, directed somewhat forward; seeds shining, light brown, about 0.5 mm. in length.
Type locality: Cape Region, Baja California, T. S. Brandegee 353 (U. of Calif.!). There are in the Brandegee herbarium, under the number 353, two sheets of this species. One was collected in the Sierra de la Laguna, Jan. 21, 1890, and the other in the Sierra de San Francisquito, Oct. 18, 1890.
Distribution: Mountains of the Cape Region, Baja California.