JAMES' GIANT PEACH Species Webpage

Fruits: Capsules ovoid to spherical, up to 1/2" across, opening at the tip; seeds, yellow-brown, warty, 1/20" long.
Click here to see drawings of identifying characteristics.
A line drawing can also be seen at USGS National Prairie Wildlife Research Center.
An identification key can also be referenced in Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.
Description
L. cardinalis is the only red flowered member of the Lobelia genus. The flowers have a velvety texture, and grow in deep racemes on 2-5' stems. The flowers are irregular tubular flowers with two lips. The upper lip splits into two lobes, the lower lip is deeply cleft into three. A long filament tube, formed of the flower's stamens united around the style, projects through the slit in the upper lip and extends out beyond the corolla. Five stamens are joined forming a red tube around the style, and are topped by bearded anthers. Each blossom is about 2" long. L. cardinalis grows from basal rosettes, and its stems are usually unbranched. The leaves are lance-shaped to oblong, and alternate up the stem. They are 2-6" long with irregularly toothed edges, and are deep green, often with a bronze tint. More information on the cardinal flower and other wildflowers can be found at The Virginia Native Plant Society. Other photos can also be seen at Wildflowers of Western Kentucky and University of South Florida.
Type Specimen
holotype
Collectors: Rand, Edward Lothrop & Robinson, Benjamin Lincoln
Locality: East Jaffrey, New Hampshire, USA. (Mountain stream)
Deposited at Harvard University Herbarium.

Geography
To see a map of relative distribution in the United States click here.

Lobelia cardinalis

AREA Status References
North America:
Continental United States; Canada Yes Godfrey & Wooten, 1981

Eastern North America:
United States east of Mississippi;
Ontario and eastern Canada Widespread Godfrey & Wooten, 1981

Southeastern United States:
AL AR DE DC FL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV Widespread Godfrey & Wooten, 1981

Southern Appalachian States:
AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV Common Godfrey & Wooten, 1981
Coastal Plain Widespread Godfrey & Wooten, 1981;
Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.

Piedmont Common Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.

Blue Ridge Mountains Yes Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Common WWW.Discoverlife.org

Ridge and Valley No information, but most likely James Heyman

Cumberland Plateau Yes Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.

Georgia Common Godfrey & Wooten, 1981;
Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.

Clarke County, Georgia No information, but most likely. James Heyman
Natural History

Lobelia cardinalis is a hermaphroditic herbaceous perrenial common throughout eastern North America. It is found usually in marshes, stream banks, low woods, damp shores, swamps, and bogs. They can grow in full sunlight or partial shade. However, when growing in full sunlight they require more water, and do better in partial shade. It requires a deep, rich soil and plenty of moisture. It grows well in heavy clay soils, and can succeed in standing water, though it doesn't grow as well. It is commonly fed on by hummingbirds, which are also its chief pollinators. It spreads by both perrenial offshoots from the parent and by tiny seeds held in small round capsules along the stalk. Now and then a pink, or even more rarely a white-flowering form of the plant appears in the wild from these self-sown seeds. Its evergreen basal leaves require sunlight for continued photosynthesis through the winter. It generally blooms from July through October, and more commonly from late July to early September. L. cardinalis exhibits dichogamy, which is the temporal separation of pollen maturation and stigmatic receptivity within a flower. This decreases the probability of self-pollination, eventhough it is self-compatible. Each flower is first staminate and then pistillate, with no overlap in sexual phases within the flower. Flowers enter the female phase only after the stigma pushes through the anther tube and then exposes its receptive surface. The inflorescence develops acropetally, and the flowers are protandrous. In mid-season, a typical raceme will have developing fruits, open flowers, and flower buds. During spring and summer the rosettes elongate and produce a single terminal racemose inflorescence of two to more than fifty flowers. In autumn, each plant produces one, or more basal offshoots and overwinters in this state. The seeds germinate in three to four weeks in 68 to 86 degrees F.
Where to Find It!
The cardinal flower has a range from New Brunswick, south to Florida, and west to Texas, and especially in those places listed above. It is a late summer flower that blooms mostly from late July to early September. It is usually found in shady places along streams, rivers and in low woods, marshes, and wet meadows. It can be recognized at a considerable distance due to its brilliant scarlett flowers. Beautiful but deadly, this plant has been used as a medicine, but is also very poisonous. It contains lobeline which can be extracted from its leaves and flowers. Lobeline causes sweating, pain, and finally death. To search other information on this plant's properties go to Plants for a Future.

References

Godfrey, Robert K., and Jean W. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United States. The University of Georgia Press. Athens, Ga.
Radford, Albert E., Harry A. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. 1968. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. University of North carolina Press. Chapel Hill, N.C.
Johnston, Mark O. 1993. Tests of Two Pollen Competition Hypotheses. American Journal of Botany, v.80(12). p.1400-1406. The Botanical Society of America, Inc.
Devlin, B., and A.G. Stephenson. 1984. Factors that Influence the Duration of the Staminate and Pistillate Phases of Lobelia cardinalis Flowers. Botanical Gazette v.145(3). p.323-328. The University of Chicago.
Schlichting, Carl D., and B. Devlin. 1992. Pollen and Ovule Sources Affect Seed Production of Lobelia cardinalis. American Journal of Botany v.79(8). p.891-898. The Botanical Society of America, Inc.
http://ice.ucdavis.edu/nps/sbyname.html
http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/pfaf/
http://res.agr.ca/cgi-bin/brd/poisonpl/ddplant5?plant=Lobelia+cardinalis&info=all&name=sci
http://www.auburn.edu/~deancar/wfnotes.htm
http://www.vnps.org/year.html
http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov
If you have any comments or suggestions about this webpage please E-Mail me at Jheyman@arches.uga.edu.

Lobelia cardinalis
AREA	Status	References
North America: Continental United States; Canada	Yes	Godfrey & Wooten, 1981
Eastern North America: United States east of Mississippi; Ontario and eastern Canada	Widespread	Godfrey & Wooten, 1981
Southeastern United States: AL AR DE DC FL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV	Widespread	Godfrey & Wooten, 1981
Southern Appalachian States: AL GA KY MD NC SC TN VA WV	Common	Godfrey & Wooten, 1981

Coastal Plain	Widespread	Godfrey & Wooten, 1981; Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.
Piedmont	Common	Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.
Blue Ridge Mountains	Yes	Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park	Common	WWW.Discoverlife.org
Ridge and Valley	No information, but most likely	James Heyman
Cumberland Plateau	Yes	Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.
Georgia	Common	Godfrey & Wooten, 1981; Radford, Ahles,& Bell, 1968.
Clarke County, Georgia	No information, but most likely.	James Heyman

Table of Contents

Lobelia cardinalis