Study plants, DNA extraction and sequencing
Lobelia columnaris is a semelparous herb or shrub up to 1 m, with
curved purple corollas organized on a terminal or multi-terminal
panicle. The protandrous flowers are present in the dry season and live
approximately ten days (Bartos et al. 2012). The flowers produce sugared
nectar that attracts birds such as the Orange-tufted sunbird
(Cinnyris bouvieri ) (Janecek et al. 2012; Riegert et al. 2011)
and Hymenoptera insects. The flowers are considered bee-pollinated
(Givnish et al. 2009). The fruit is a capsule with thousands of winged
seeds (Mabberley 1975) dispersed by wind (Knox & Palmer 1998; Mabberley
1975).
Fieldwork was conducted in February and March of 2015 with permits from
Universidad Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial, Republic of Equatorial
Guinea, and from the Ministry of Scientific Research and Innovation,
Republic of Cameroon. Locality and collection data on the samples ofL. columnaris used in this study are given in Table 1. Voucher
specimens are deposited in the Philadelphia Herbarium (PH). Voucher
duplicates were deposited in the National Herbarium of Cameroon (YA) and
Flora of Guinea-Real Jardín Botánico Madrid (MA).
Table 1. Locality and collection data of Lobelia columnaris