_Lobelia cardinalis_
_Flowers_--Rich vermilion, very rarely rose or white, 1 to 1-1/2 in.
long, numerous, growing in terminal, erect, green-bracted, more or less
1-sided racemes. Calyx 5-cleft; corolla tubular, split down one side,
2-lipped; the lower lip with 3 spreading lobes, the upper lip 2-lobed,
erect; 5 stamens united into a tube around the style; 2 anthers with
hairy tufts. _Stem:_ 2 to 4-1/2 ft. high, rarely branched. _Leaves:_
Oblong to lance-shaped, slightly toothed, mostly sessile.
_Preferred Habitat_--Wet or low ground, beside streams, ditches, and
meadow runnels.
_Flowering Season_--July-September.
_Distribution_--New Brunswick to the Gulf states, westward to the
Northwest Territory and Kansas.
The easy cultivation from seed of this peerless wild flower--and it is
offered in many trade catalogues--might save it to those regions in
Nature’s wide garden that now know it no more. The ranks of floral
missionaries need recruits.
Curious that the great Blue Lobelia should be the cardinal flower’s twin
sister! Why this difference of color? Sir John Lubbock proved by
tireless experiment that the bees’ favorite color is blue, and the
shorter-tubed Blue Lobelia elected to woo them as her benefactors.
Whoever has made a study of the ruby-throated humming bird’s habits must
have noticed how red flowers entice him--columbines, painted cups, coral
honeysuckle, Oswego Tea, trumpet flower, and cardinal in Nature’s
garden; cannas, salvia, gladioli, pelargoniums, fuchsias, phloxes,
verbenas, and nasturtiums among others in ours.