Family: Campanulaceae

Origin: S & SE USA

This handsome, summer-flowering herbaceous perennial grows well in moist ground; rising to c.90 cm, its stem is purple-bronze and its alternate, glossy, toothed leaves, up to 10 cm long, are purple-red; the flower-spike has many scarlet flowers, each flower, with its three-lobed lower lip, is c.5 cm wide. White- and pink-flowered forms are available. It is a parent, with L. siphilitica and L. fulgens, of many beautiful garden hybrids.

Introduced in 1626.

The genus is named after Matthias de L'Obel (1538-1616), botanist and physician to King James I.