Blue Cardinal Flower

Lobelia siphilitica

Lobelia siphilitica, the great blue lobelia, great lobelia, or blue cardinal flower, is a plant species within the family Campanulaceae. It is an herbaceous perennial dicot native to eastern and central Canada and United States. There are two recognized varieties of Lobelia siphilitica, var. siphilitica and var. ludoviciana. Blooming from August to October, it is short-lived, lasting only for a few years.

Lobelia cardinalis

Lobelia cardinalis, the cardinal flower, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae native to the Americas, from southeastern Canada south through the eastern and southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America to northern Colombia.

Flower

Flowers, also known as blossoms and blooms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants. Typically, they are structured in four circular levels around the end of a stalk. These include: sepals, which are modified leaves that support the flower; petals, often designed to attract pollinators; male stamens, where pollen is presented; and female gynoecia, where pollen is received and its movement is facilitated to the egg. When flowers are arranged in a group, they are known collectively as an inflorescence.

Blue

Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RGB (additive) colour model, as well as in the RYB colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term blue generally describes colours perceived by humans observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. An optical effect called the Tyndall effect explains blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called aerial perspective.

blue

Adjective

1. Of a blue hue.
2. Depressed, melancholic, sad.

Noun

1. The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea; the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum and one of the primary additive colours.
2. Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour.

cardinal

Adjective

1. Of fundamental importance; crucial, pivotal.
2. Of or relating to the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west).

Noun

1. One of the officials appointed by the pope in the Roman Catholic Church, ranking only below the pope, equal to the patriarchs, constituting the special college which elects the pope.
2. Any of various species of New-World passerine songbird in the genus Cardinalis, or in the family Cardinalidae more generally, or of similar appearance and once considered to be related to the former; so called because of their red plumage. (See Wikipedia article for taxonomical information.)

flower

Noun

1. A colorful, conspicuous structure associated with angiosperms, frequently scented and attracting various insects, and which may or may not be used for sexual reproduction.
2. A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens and/or a pistil.

Verb

1. To put forth blooms.
2. To decorate with pictures of flowers.