CARDINALFLOWER 



Lobelia cardinalis Linnaeus 



Cardinalflower, one of the most brilliantly colored of all our wild 

 flowers, loves swampy places or the banks of streams, where in mid- 

 summer it reaches its perfection. The long spikes continue to bloom 

 for weeks. The flowers open in succession from the lowest buds on 

 the stem to those at the top. For this reason, the plant is easily ex- 

 terminated in its native haunts, the flowers at the top of the stems 

 being gathered with the old flowers and ripening seeds below. The 

 color of the flowers is likened to that of a cardinal's hat, and surely 

 the corolla of no other of our wild flowers is so rich and velvety. 

 Cardinalflower may be grown easily from seed, but in gardens it 

 must be treated as a biennial unless its wet habitat can be reproduced. 

 In the wild state, it is perennial by offsets. 



Cardinalflower occurs from Florida westward to Texas, Kansas, 

 and Colorado, and north to New Brunswick and Ontario. 



The sketch was obtained from specimens gathered near Pocono 

 Manor, Pennsylvania. 



PLATE x63 



