Männertreu – A Dangerous Summer Love with Special Blooms

"Männertreu (Lobelia erinus) is a must-have in any perennial bed. This African beauty has established itself here as a popular bedding and balcony plant.

But there's much more behind its delicate blossoms than you might initially suspect. Männertreu, also known as blue lobelia, really packs a punch!"

Many plant names can be derived from their botanical names, but this isn't the case with Männertreu. As you might suspect, the name has something to do with men and faithfulness. Männertreu is a plant with a very short blooming period, usually lasting just one summer – like a brief summer love, wouldn't you agree? And it's precisely this short bloom time that earned it its popular name, Männertreu (literally "men's faithfulness"). The name is meant to be a humorous comparison to the supposedly not-so-long-lasting faithfulness of men. But that doesn't make the plant any less attractive, because what's more beautiful and refreshing than a summer love?

Männertreu has a very special characteristic, which lies in its flowers. Männertreu produces a multitude of small blossoms that, depending on the variety, bloom from May well into September. Now, for the special feature of these blooms: they are zygomorphic. This means that the plant's flowers are symmetrical. If you were to mirror a Männertreu blossom along an imaginary axis of symmetry, you would get two exactly identical halves. This makes the plant's flowers extraordinarily beautiful.

The more beautiful a plant is in the garden, the higher the likelihood that consuming the plant or parts of it can lead to significant health damage. This is also true for Männertreu. Like all other Lobelia species, this African beauty is absolutely toxic. And that means in every regard: there's no part of the plant that isn't poisonous. This is due to the alkaloids contained in Männertreu. If you still don't want to do without Männertreu, you should opt for a hanging basket plant so that it remains out of reach for pets and children.