Common Name:
RED LOBELIA, CARDINAL-FLOWER
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Coefficient of Conservatism:
7
Coefficient of Wetness:
-5
Wetness Index:
OBL
Physiognomy:
Nt P-Forb
G. E. Crow
flowers
Swamps and floodplain forests; thickets and open ground along rivers and streams; marshes, wet shores, ditches, and swales.
The rich red flowers with their long corolla tube are pollinated normally by hummingbirds; however, bees may visit the flowers and gather nectar through the slits on the sides of the corolla. Hybrids with L. siphilitica [L. ×speciosa Sweet] rarely occur in nature, and have been found only once in Michigan, in Lenawee County in 2011. The hybrid is intermediate in floral structure, with red-purple flowers. Many very showy cultivated plants originate from artificially produced hybrids.
White-flowered plants occur occasionally throughout the range, and are striking in appearance [f. alba (McNab) H. St. John]. Plants with the corollas an intermediate pink may be found with the red and white forms.