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

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

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.

The handsome Great Lobelia, constantly and invidiously compared with its gorgeous sister the cardinal flower, suffers unfairly.

From Wild Flowers Worth Knowing by Blanchan, Neltje

Yet in color it is as rich an orange as the petal of the cardinal flower is a rich scarlet.

From Under the Maples by Burroughs, John