LOBELIA FAMILY
(Lobeliaceæ)
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis). Although exceedingly 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, lanceshaped 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 narrow, 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 southward.
(A) Spiked Lobelia (Lobelia spicata) is a small flowered species having a simple leafy stem from 1 to 4 feet in height. The leaves vary greatly in shape from lance-shaped to oblong, and decrease in size rapidly as they approach the flower spike. The small, pale blue-violet flowers are set in short smooth calyces. The upper lip of the corolla has two small lobes and the lower one is divided into three, larger, spreading ones. It is commonly found in dry, sandy soil from N. S. to Manitoba and southward.
(B) Indian Tobacco (Lobelia inflata) is the most common of the Lobelias; it is found growing everywhere in either sandy or moist soil, in woods or in fields. The alternating leaves are pointed-oval and sparingly wavy-toothed; the lower ones are quite large, while the upper ones are very small. The simple stem is stout and quite hairy; it grows from 1 to 2 feet in height. The little blue-violet flowers are barely one quarter inch long, each seated in a large, smooth inflated calyx.
The flower calyces enlarge after the corollas have withered away, and form round seed-pods.
