LOBELIA CARDINALIS, CARDINALS FLOWER. 23 



of the Northern and Middle States," regarded it as " one of the 

 most beautiful plants in the Northern States;" and this, perhaps, 

 would be the verdict of many admirers. It is undoubtedly a gay 

 flower. A person may be gay, or even a cardinal, a queen, or 

 ■ the bravest of the brave, and yet not be beautiful. It will be an 

 interesting theme for a student in beauty. Richness of color 

 and strength will be found, but few other elements of the 

 beautiful. 



The Cardinal Flower has some interest from its association 

 with a class of plants famous for medicinal if not for noxious 

 qualities. Dr. Erasmus Darwin, in his " Loves of the Plants," 

 now approaching one hundred years old, sings : 



"And fell Lobelia's suffocating breath 

 Loads the dank pinion of the gale with death." 



He is referring to a story about a West Indian species, to the 

 effect that it produces pains in the breast, and a difficulty of 

 breathing in a person who may be some feet away from it. Our 

 species is, however, rather beneficial than noxious. Dr. Peyre 

 Porcher, in his "Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests," 

 says that it " is used by the Indians as an anthelmintic," and 

 Rafinesque, in his " Medical Botany," refers particularly to the 

 Cherokees as using it — a tribe which at that time inhabited por- 

 tions of Georgia and Tennessee. 



The Cardinal Flower has a wide distribution over our conti- 

 nent. Dr. Gray limits it to the east of the Mississippi in the 

 Southern United States, and from New Brunswick to the Sas- 

 katchewan in the north. Forms found in Colorado, Arizona, 

 and Texas, he regards as constituting another species. But 

 those who have had the plant under cultivation, and noted how 

 much it varies, may be pardoned for believing that Lobelia car- 

 dinaiis, L. spleiidens, L. fulgens, and perhaps other named 

 species from Mexico, are but variations of the same thing. The 

 acknowledged species is found to vary in color even in a wild 

 state. White, yellowish, rose, and crimson, as well as the usual 



