Another one that's stumping me.

[t5247rb]

I'm having a hard time identifying which family this is in.  It was found in a forest outside of Paris on July 24.  Thanks for your help.

[fermi de Sousa]

Hi Rob,
it looks a bit like a lobelia, so Campanulaceae, if it is.
cheers
fermi

[Karaba]

Exact Fermi. It should be Lobelia urens, the only wild Lobelia in France

[t5247rb]

Perfect, thank you!  First time I've ever seen this flower.

[Tristan_He]

Exact Fermi. It should be Lobelia urens, the only wild Lobelia in France

Yes, definitely Lobelia urens, it's rare in Britain. Don't you have Lobelia dortmanna too Yvain? I think I remember seeing it in the Massif Central many years ago.

[Karaba]

Oh yes Tristan, but it is so rare. I don't think that it grows in Massif Central: there's one population in Britany and some others on the atlantic coast in Landes (South-west)

[Tristan_He]

I may well have misremembered Yvain - it was a very long time ago (as in: late 1980s). I remember we went for a rather boring walk across a grassy plateau with some conifer plantations. It would have been in the general area of the Puy de Sancy. We came across a small lake and shortly afterwards we we took a wrong turning and ended up in the wrong valley! Fortunately a very kind Frenchman in a Renault 4 stopped and drove my mother and sister back to the car. My father and I carried on walking along the road, which was wooded, and came across huge carpets of Paris quadrifolia and a lot of Astrantia major - at that time not a well known garden plant in the UK.

I've just had a look at the map and the most likely candidate seems to be Lac de Guery, east-northeast of La Bourboule. But as I say, I may have misremembered, and it was a very long time ago!

Here in Wales Lobelia dortmanna is fairly common in suitable habitat (nutrient-poor, slightly acidic lakes often with a bit of peat staining). It generally grows with Littorella uniflora and Isoetes lacustris.

[Karaba]

I didn't look after old data but here's the actual distribution map of Lobelia dortmanna :
https://inpn.mnhn.fr/espece/cd_nom/106428/tab/carte

This is a really cute flower but it seems quite difficult to grow...

[Tristan_He]

Really interesting Yvain. I presume most of those are on acidic lowland sand in the Landes area?

What is quite strange to me is that in Britain and France, its ecological preferences seem different. In both countries it seems to favour rather acidic waters but in France these are mainly on lowland sand, whereas in Britain they are much more upland or mountainous in character.

As you say, not easy to grow - it is sometimes washed up on lake shores and I have tried to establish plants in my garden pond, but without success. The substrates it grows in will be well oxygenated by wave action, which is not easy to mimic in a garden pond!