Lobelia laxiflora
Sierra Madre Cardinal Flower
Family: Campanulaceae
Herbaceous perennial usually growing to about a foot or more high, spreading out to at least 2’ wide. In moist soil the plant will continue to spread by rhizome. Red tubular flowers with orange throats appear in summer.
Part sun in summer is best for this species, which in Arizona is native to canyons. Supply moderate to regular water. Plants are root hardy to 0° F but temperatures in the high 20s will damage foliage. Plants regrow readily from frost damage.
Loved by hummingbirds. Larval food plant for the spotted cut-worm moth (Xestia c-nigrum). The hummingbird flower mite (Tropicoseius chiriquensis) lives in the flowers of this plant, feeding on the nectar and pollen and laying eggs. Each flower blooms for about a week, enough time for the mite to complete its life cycle.
Like other lobelias, this species contains medicinally useful alkaloids. Several new compounds have been discovered during chemical analyses of this plant. It exhibits promise as an antiinflammatory agent.
The genus is named for Mathias de L'Obel (latinized to Matthaeus Lobelius) (1538 –1616), a Belgian botanist and physician to the royal families of the Netherlands (William the Silent, Prince of Orange) and England (King James I). The specific epithet is from the Latin words 'laxus' meaning "loose" and 'flora' meaning "flower" in reference to the loose open arrangement of the flowers.
From a few spots in southern Arizona (like Sycamore Canyon) south through Mexico to Costa Rica. In Mexico this plant grows in pine-oak forest habitat. In Arizona it is in riparian woodland, canyons.
Plants growing in riparian canyon habitat, a typical site where this plant is found in Durango Mexico, photo by sierra_br on iNaturalist
Flower detail showing the bicolored nature of the flowers, photo by Chris Lloyd
Plant growing in its most northern locality in Arizona, Sycamore Canyon. Photo by Jack Dash, SEINET