LOBELIA FAMILY 
( Lobeliacece ) 
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis ) . Although ex¬ 
ceedingly bright colored, these flowers are rightly classed 
as among our most beautiful wild ones. As might be 
expected from their color, they are visited by and chiefly 
fertilized by the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. 
The simple stem grows to heights of 2 to 4 feet, from 
perennial creeping rootstalks that often throw up new 
plants; the stalk is hollow and rather closely set with 
alternating, lance-shaped leaves, the lower ones stemmed 
and toothed, the upper ones clasping the stem and 
nearly smooth-edged. The showy flower-spike is loosely 
set with bright red flowers; the harrow, tubular corolla 
proceeds from a five-parted calyx, and ends in two lips, 
the upper having two erect, narrow lobes and the lower 
a broad three-cleft one, velvety-scarlet; the five stamens 
are united in an erect tube. The Cardinal Flower is 
found in moist ground, especially along brooks, blooms 
in August and September and is found from N. S. to 
Minn, and southwards 
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