cardinal flower

American  

noun

1. a North American plant, Lobelia cardinalis, with showy red tubular flowers in an elongated cluster.

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cardinal flower British  

noun

1. a campanulaceous plant, Lobelia cardinalis of E North America, that has brilliant scarlet, pink, or white flowers

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Etymology

Origin of cardinal flower

An Americanism dating back to 1620–30; so called from its color

Example Sentences

One very common flower resembles our cardinal flower, though not of so deep a color, another is very like rocket or phlox, but smaller and of various colors, white, blue and purple.

From Summer on the Lakes, in 1843 by Fuller, Margaret

And here and there, among the lacy white, a stalk of a different sort grew, with red blossoms of a shade so rich that it is called the cardinal flower.

From Bird Stories by Sim, Robert J.

Muriel Blake's golden curls, and azure eyes, and roseate bloom flashed on the eye much as does a cardinal flower in a wayside brook.

From Boston Neighbours In Town and Out by Poor, Agnes Blake

The cardinal flower is the only flower more gaudy in red than this bee balm.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

The prostrate trunks of a number of great trees lay half submerged in lily-choked pools, beside which stalks of the brilliant cardinal flower flamed by day in the green dimness.

From Followers of the Trail by Stecher, William F. (William Frederick)