Butterfly Flowers and Plants, Campanulaceae - Bellflower Family, Culturally Significant Plants, Fall Blooming Plants, Herbs and Forbs, Hummingbird Flowers and Plants, Native Wildflowers and Plants, Perennials, Pink Arizona Flowers, Poisonous Plants, Protected Native Plants, Red Arizona Flowers, Red Flowers, Riparian and Wetland Plants, Summer Blooming Plants, White Arizona Flowers

Lobelia cardinalis – Cardinalflower

Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco (flower)

Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco

Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco (developing fruit)

Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco (leaves)

Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Lobelia cardinalis

Synonyms: Lobelia fulgens, L. splendens

Common Names: Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia, Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Herb/Forb

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Riparian. This moisture-loving plant grows in sun to part shade in constantly moist soil along streams, springs, and seeps and in wet meadows in upper desert and upland areas.

Flower Color: Brilliant red, White (rare), Pink (cultivated)

Flowering Season: Summer, Fall (early). This showy wildflower blooms after the summer monsoon rains have begun.

Height: 3 to 5 feet (1 to 1.5 m) tall

Description: The flowers are on long, slender, erect racemes. The individual flowers are tubular, 1 inch (2.5 cm) wide, and two-lipped with 2 slender lobes on the upper lip and 3 larger lobes on the lower lip. The anthers are blue-gray in color and joined together in a tube. The flowers are followed by 2-valved seed capsules. The leaves are dark green, alternate, minutely toothed, and linear-lanceolate to narrowly oblong in shape. The stems are erect and unbranched.

Special Characteristics

Butterfly Plant – The flowers attract large butterflies and moths like Pipevine Swallowtails (Battus philenor) and White-lined Sphinx (Hyles lineata) moths.

Culturally Significant Plant – Native Americans used this plant for a variety of medicinal purposes and as ceremonial tobacco.

Hummingbird Flower – The nectar-filled flowers attract hummingbirds.

Legal Status – Protected Native Plant (Salvage Restricted)

Poisonous – All parts of this plant are poisonous and contain the toxic alkaloids lobelamine and lobeline.

Classification

Kingdom: Plantae – Plants
Subkingdom: Tracheobionta – Vascular plants
Superdivision: Spermatophyta – Seed plants
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Campanulales
Family: Campanulaceae – Bellflower family
Genus: Lobelia L. – lobelia
Species: Lobelia cardinalis L. – cardinalflower

More About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map
Cardinalflower, Cardinal Flower, or Scarlet Lobelia (Lobelia cardinalis) – The Firefly Forest