Plant · P-1114

Cardinal Flower

Lobelia cardinalis

Cardinal Flower produces tall spikes of brilliant scarlet tubular flowers from late spring into fall, planted almost entirely for the hummingbirds that work them. Every part of the plant is poisonous if eaten, containing an alkaloid with a nicotine-like action, though its root and leaf have a long history of use in small medicinal preparations. It needs consistently moist to wet ground and struggles through long stretches of very hot weather, so it does best at a pond edge or stream margin rather than a dry bed. Individual plants are short-lived, but a stand renews itself from self-sown seed and from stems that root wherever they touch damp mud.