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What do "small," "medium" and "large" numbers mean?
They refer to how many insects were collected per meter square in a 30 second sample. Small means less than 2 insects; medium indicates 2 to 10 insects, and large suggests greater than 10 insects. |
home> native plant fact sheets> blue lobelia
Enhancing Beneficial Insects with Native Plants
Blue lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica L. |
Group: Dicot
Family: Campanulaceae
(bellflower)
Growth Habit: Forb/herb
Duration: Perennial
U.S. Nativity: Native, most of eastern U.S.
Natural Enemies Attracted: Medium numbers of Orius insidiosus, Chalcidoidea, Cantharidae, Coccinellidae and Plagiognathus politus. Small numbers of Salticidae, Thomisidae, Cynipoidea, Sphecidae, Braconidae, Nabidae and Empididae.
Pests Attracted: Large number of lygus bugs. Small number of weevils, leaf beetles, leafhoppers, aphids and thrips.
Bees attracted: High numbers (more than 5 bees per meter square in a 30 second sample) of bees including yellow-faced bees, sweat bees, small carpenter bees, and bumble bees. |
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| Species Notes: Blue to purple flowers bloom in spikes up to 3 ft tall. Plants filled in well in second year of growth, and bloomed throughout August into early September. This species was tenth most attractive to natural enemies in the late season, with three times as many natural enemies as the grass control. |
| About the Plant Species Graph: Average number of beneficial insects collected at each plant species the week before, during, and after peak bloom, for plant species blooming from mid-August through early October (+ standard error). Blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) boxed in red. Bars for natural enemies are in green, bars for bees are in yellow. Bars for native plants are solid and nonnative plants are striped. The black line on the top graph shows the number of natural enemies in grass with no flowering plants (grass control). Plants are listed in order of peak bloom. |
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| Habitat: Includes full sun to partial sun, and average to very wet soils. Naturally occurring in wet areas such as ditches, wet meadows and thickets, fens, shores, riverbanks, swamps and floodplains. Cultivation and Management: Can be grown from seed (flowers in third year) or plug material (flowers in the first or second year). This species self-seeds when in ideal locations.
Availability: Species is available as seed, plug or container grown material from various native plant nurseries. Michigan Native Plant Producers Association
For more information:USDA-NRCS PLANTS database |
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| This fact sheet prepared by: Doug Landis, Anna Fiedler, Department of Entomology, Michigan State University. Please note: The information presented at this web site should be considered a guideline to be adapted for your situation. MSU makes no warranty about the use of the information presented here. Read disclaimer. |
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