OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis   FAMILY Campanulaceae   Go to FSUS key



INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Lobelia cardinalis   FAMILY Campanulaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)

Lobelia cardinalis ssp. cardinalis

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 178-06-001:

Lobelia cardinalis   FAMILY Campanulaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Lobelia cardinalis

 

COMMON NAME:
Cardinal Flower


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_loca2_001_lvd

        

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide    pnd_loca2_013_lvd

        

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm0307k_23

July    Greenville County    SC

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_lobelia_cardinalis

July        

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

Betsy George    bmg080122_9422

August    Greenville County    SC

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm140822_016

August    Greenville County    SC

Swamp Rabbit Trail

Leaves lanceolate, 2-6" long, with toothed margins, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

Keith Bradley    kab_l_cardinalis_2704

August    Swain County    NC

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

Tim Spira    tpslcardinalis3

August        

Intensely red or scarlet tubular flowers crowded in a terminal raceme, per Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011).

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm070908_016

September    Greenville County    SC

Creekside/Riverside

Calyx lobes linear, 6-22mm long, entire, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm070910_003b

September    Greenville County    SC

Creekside/Riverside

The 5 stamens unite around the style, per All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999).

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm070910_003c

September    Greenville County    SC

Creekside/Riverside

The upper lip has 2 short lobes; the spreading lower lip has 3 lobes, per All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999).

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm080901_016

September    Pickens County    SC

Creekside/Riverside

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm140909_538

September    Greenville County    SC

Swamp Rabbit Trail

Lobelia lvs w obscure whitish callus-tipped & oft irregular or divergent teeth, per Weakley's Flora.

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

Paul Thompson    pstlobelia_cardinalis2b

September?        

Fruits are inflated, ellipsoid capsules, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).

image of Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis, Cardinal Flower

JK Marlow    jkm151006_313b

October    Greenville County    SC

Swamp Rabbit Trail

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Lobelia cardinalis var. cardinalis   FAMILY Campanulaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Lobelia cardinalis   FAMILY Campanulaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Lobelia cardinalis ssp. cardinalis

INCLUDED WITHIN VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 178-06-001:
Lobelia cardinalis   FAMILY Campanulaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Lobelia cardinalis

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

853

Forb
Perennial

Habitat: Streambanks, riverbanks, marshes, swamp forests, per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has milky sap (latex)

LEAVES:
Simple
Alternate (basal leaves usually absent or withered at flowering)

FLOWER:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Red
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-lobed calyx
2-lipped 5-lobed corolla
5 stamens, completely united
Bisexual

Flowers in a terminal raceme

FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Capsule

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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