Cardinal Flower

Wildflower in moist garden, edge of water garden, understory plant in wet woods or stream edges

Not salt tolerant of inundation by salty or brackish water.



Low/no tolerance of salty wind or direct salt spray

Attracts hummingbirds.

Riverine swamps, spring run swamps, bogs, in mats of floating vegetation, wet ditches.

• Showy flowers
• The nectar attracts various Swallowtail butterflies.
• Bumblebees will steal nectar through slits in the tubular corolla.
• Halictid bees sometimes gather pollen, but they are apparently ineffective at pollination (Hillty, ).