|
The Chinese lobelia (Lobelia chinensis) belongs to Campanulaceae (the Bellflower family). It is a perennial herb that is native to various parts of Japan, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, China and Easteast Asia. This herb is a lowland weed and can reach 10-15 cm in height, and it is clumping in the wet places such as ditches. The stem is creeping on the ground and the leaves are lanceolate and alternate. Pale magenta flowers bloom in June to October. The flower resembles to a cultivated lobelia and the corolla is deep quintuple-lobate. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "半邊蓮", and "半邊蓮" (ban bian lian) in Chinese.
In Korean, it's called "su-yeom-garae-kkot" (수염가래꽃). This is a compound word consisting of "beard" (su-yeom: 수염) + "plow" (garae: 가래) + "flower" (kkot: 꽃). This is because the five-lobed corolla resembles an old man's beard, and the lobes resemble the shape of a farming tool called a "garae" (a type of plow).
|