Contrast #2
by Wild Thing
Title
Contrast #2
Artist
Wild Thing
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
This is one of my most favorite flower that grows wild in the swamps. It's vivid red stands out and can be seen from quite a distance away. When photographing it you have to adjust because the red is so bright. Especially if it happens to have the sun shining on it. It grows in the swamps and is just an amazingly beautiful find.
Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinal Flower, Scarlet Lobelia. This is the showiest of our Lobelia species with the bright red blossoms. The name comes from the robes which Catholic Cardinals wear, which are this same color of crimson. Cardinal Flower blossom has the 5-lobed corolla typical of lobelias, with 2 lobes on the upper lip, and 3 on the lower, although the separation of the lobes are extreme in Lobelia cardinalis. The stamen are united into a single crimson tube, carried high above the rest of the flower.
It is found in wet places, streambanks, and swamps. The leaves are up to 20 cm (8 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) broad, lanceolate to oval, with a toothed margin. The flowers are usually vibrant red, deeply five-lobed, up to 4 cm across; they are produced in an erect raceme up to 70 cm (28 in) tall during the summer to fall. Forms with white (f. alba) and pink (f. rosea) flowers are also known.
Lobelia cardinalis is related to two other Lobelia species in to the Eastern United States, Lobelia inflata (Indian tobacco) and Lobelia siphilitica (great lobelia); all display the characteristic "lip" petal near the opening of the flower and the "milky" liquid the plant excretes. L. siphilitica has blue flowers and is primarily pollinated by bees, whereas L. cardinalis is red and is primarily pollinated by the ruby-throated hummingbird.
Medicinal
The Zuni people use this plant as an ingredient of "schumaakwe cakes" and used it externally for rheumatism and swelling. The Penobscot people smoked the dried leaves as a substitute for tobacco. It may also have been chewed.
Uploaded
August 29th, 2017
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