Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is found near water from east Canada to Minnesota and further south. The entire leaves are oblong to lanceolate and up to six inches long. The showy red flowers of this plant are very spectacular. Large examples can be over four feet tall. Prairie restoration projects in North America frequently introduce this plant. As a result, it is becoming less difficult to find. Lobelia cardinalis is also found from Mexico south through Central America to northern Colombia.

Lobelia genus is native to both the Old and New World. There are almost 400 species in this large genus which is made up of herbs, shrubs, and small trees. The leaves are usually alternate and frequently sessile. Many species have a preference for damp or moist areas. There are 45 species and 36 subspecies growing in greater North America, including Hawaii, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Greenland. Lobelia genus can be easily recognized by the tubular flowers that have two upward pointing lobes and three downward pointing lobes. Following is an incomplete list of some of the species in this genus found in the eastern United States:

Species - - - Common Name - Location
Lobelia amoena (near elongata) - Georgia
Lobelia boykinii - South Carolina, Ga. , Florida
Lobelia canbyi - Tennessee Georgia, N. Carolina
Lobelia dortmanna - Water - New Jersey to Minnesota
Lobelia elongata - Longleaf - Coastal SE United States
Lobelia glandulosa (near elongata) - Virginia to Florida
Lobelia inflata - Indian Tobacco - Most of eastern North America
Lobelia kalmii - Brook - Canada to Iowa to New Jersey
Lobelia nuttallii - Virginia, Kentucky, Florida
Lobelia puberula - Downy - Eastern Coastal Plain
Lobelia siphilitica - Great N. England to Manitoba & South
Lobelia spicata Pale Spike - Most of eastern North America


Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae) is a large family of 1500-2000 species of wide distribution. As of 1994, there were about 234 species in 25 genera either native to or established in greater North America, including Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Hawaii, and Greenland.

Campanulate is a large order usually divided into six different families. The largest of these is the Aster (Composite) Family.

There have been considerable proposed changes to this order. The first change is renaming this to the Asterales order. The second change is including several other families herein. (for example, the Menyanthaceae). The composite (Asteraceae) and bell flower (Campanulaceae) families remain.

Dicots (Dicotyledoneae Class) are the predominant group of vascular plants on earth. With the exception of the grasses (Monocots) and the Conifers (Gymnosperms), most of the larger plants that one encounters are Dicots. Dicots are characterized by having a seed with two outer shell coverings.

Some of the more primitive Dicots are the typical hardwood trees (oaks, birches, hickories, etc). The more advanced Dicots include many of the Composite (Aster) Family flowers like the Dandelion, Aster, Thistles, and Sunflowers. Although many Monocots reach a very high degree of specialization, most botanists feel that the Dicots represent the most advanced group of plants.

Seed plants (Phylum Embryophyta) are generally grouped into one large phylum containing three major classes: the Gymnosperms, the Monocots, and the Dicots. (Some scientists separate the Gymnosperms into a separate phylum and refer to the remaining plants as flowering plants or Angiospermae.)

For North American counts of the number of species in each genus and family, the primary reference has been John T. Kartesz, author of A Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland (1994). The geographical scope of his lists include, as part of greater North America, Hawaii, Alaska, Greenland, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Kartesz lists 21,757 species of vascular plants comprising the ferns, gymnosperms and flowering plants as being found in greater North America (including Alaska, Hawaii, Greenland, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There are estimates within the scientific world that about half of the listed North American seed plants were originally native with the balance being comprised of Eurasian and tropical plants that have become established.

Plant kingdom contains a large variety of different organisms including mosses, ferns, and seed plants. Most plants manufacture their energy from sunlight and water. Identification of many species is difficult in that most individual plants have characteristics that have variables based on soil moisture, soil chemistry, and sunlight.

Because of the difficulty in learning and identifying different plant groups, specialists have emerged that study only a limited group of plants. These specialists revise the taxonomy and give us detailed descriptions and ranges of the various species. Their results are published in technical journals and written with highly specialized words that apply to a specific group.

On the other hand, there are the nature publishers. These people and companies undertake the challenging task of trying to provide easy to use pictures and descriptions to identify those species.

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