Lobelia anceps or Angled Lobelia is a versatile and hardy groundcover commonly found throughout the Otways and across SE Australia, WA, New Zealand, South Africa and South America! Noticeable by its attractive purple flowers it is commonly found growing on the forest floor and even in some lawns and will quickly colonise an area creating a nice colourful mat. The genus name Lobelia honours Matthias de L’Obel (1538–1616), a Flemish botanist while anceps means “two-sided, double or flattened”, referring to the leaves. Interestingly, despite its wide distribution it has no known culinary or medicinal uses. You can buy Angled Lobelia plants from the Shrub Club Community Nursery for only $3. If you’d like to learn more about local native plants, the Southern Otway Landcare Network (SOLN) runs a weekly plant walk over the summer, usually departing from the office at 69 Nelson St at 2:30 pm each Tuesday and going somewhere different each week.
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SOLN acknowledges the Gadubanud as the Traditional Owners of the country on which we live and work. We recognise their continuing connection to land, water and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders.