Cardinal Flower

This has got to be one of our most beautiful New England wild flowers. Did you know it has a twin sister? The Great Blue Lobelia is the sister plant.  Rodger Tory Peterson called the Cardinal Flower.... " America's Favorite " flower. John Burroughs ( one of the fathers of the U. S. Conservation Movement )  said, " It is not so much  something colored as color itself. "  Unfortunately the numbers of Cardinal Flowers have been dropping in the North East. It is on the Endangered Species list in Massachusetts. Last year was when I saw my first one. A friend spotted one on a walk and later showed me its secret hiding place. This year I hoped to see a few more added to its number.... but again this year there is only one.  Hummingbirds are the chief pollinators of the Cardinal Flower and here in lies part of the problem with the scarcity of the flower. It is a " Catch 22 " situation. Are the Hummingbird numbers dropping in the North East because there are fewer and fewer Cardinal Flowers, or are there fewer Cardinal Flowers because the number of Hummingbirds in the N. E. keep dropping?  Of course over picking in the past and destruction of the wet lands in the N. E. are also part of the equation. Well, lets hope they return to us in great numbers. They are such a treat to see.

Where I found it : its a secret