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
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Read more about Cardinal Flower at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
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.
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_loca2_001_lvd
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USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / USDA Wetland flora: Field office illustrated guide pnd_loca2_013_lvd
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JK Marlow jkm0307k_23
July Greenville County SC
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Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_lobelia_cardinalis
July
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Betsy George bmg080122_9422
August Greenville County SC
)
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).
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Keith Bradley kab_l_cardinalis_2704
August Swain County NC
Great Smoky Mountains National Park
)
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).
)
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).
)
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).
)
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).
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JK Marlow jkm080901_016
September Pickens County SC
Creekside/Riverside
)
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.
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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).
)
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
853
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Streambanks, riverbanks, marshes, swamp forests, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Common
Click here to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
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
Bisexual
Bilaterally symmetrical
5-lobed calyx
2-lipped 5-lobed corolla
5 stamens, completely united
Flowers in a terminal raceme
FRUIT:
Spring/Summer/Fall
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- All About South Carolina Wildflowers (Midgley, 1999) p193
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p208
- Forest Plants of the Southeast and Their Wildlife Uses (Miller & Miller, 2005) p122
- Gardening with Native Plants of the South (Wasowski & Wasowski, 1994, 2020) p162
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002) p145
- Great Smoky Mountains Wildflowers (Campbell, Hutson, Sharp, & Hutson, 1962) p100
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p329
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p052
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p318
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p105
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) P103
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p244
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p144
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p257
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p300
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p399
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p170
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p260