The Cardinal Flowers of Brecksville Reservation
The Cardinal Flower is rarely found by the roadside, its color is too brilliant to escape marauders; but over the fence where a runlet makes its way through a meadow one often sees it following the course of the tiny stream and sometimes it appears in mass. Apart from it gorgeous color the corolla is interesting as a typical example of the Lobelia group. The two-lipped corolla has a long, slender tube which is split down the upper side its entire length, and through this the stamen tube and the style protrude. This is characteristic of the genus. | Source: Keeler, Harriet L. The Wayside Flowers of Summer. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1917. 223-224. Print.