Summer’s heat is at full boil, the garden’s bounty is filling baskets and bellies and the Lobelias are blooming. Must be August in Appalachia. Such a serious month, August, filled with trips to the local rivers, lakes, swimming holes and waterfalls, sunset picnics on the parkway and an embarrassing abundance of blooms and plant growth.
Amid the many shades of green in the woods and meadows this time of year, a shock of vibrant color will always stand out and catch my eye. This often happens when I’m driving, prompting either 45 mph roadside wildflower identification or, if time and safety allow, a quick turnaround to try and figure out what it is.
Yellow, orange and white are the most common wildflower colors of summer, so when my eye is drawn to patches of red or blue, they stand out and invite further exploration. Sometimes the red is that of scarlet bee balm, also known as wild bergamot or Oswego tea (Monarda didyma).
If you’re in a sunny lowland area, it’s likely that that the fiery flash as you drive by is the cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis), which loves to grow in open, wet meadows and riparian zones along rivers and creeks. This beautiful plant grows upward of 4 feet tall and 2 feet wide with a cluster of bright red flowers on raceme. The flowers begin blooming from the bottom of the raceme first, and eventually all bloom along the whole cluster.
If the flash of color is cooler and bluer while driving by a wet meadow, then it’s likely you’re seeing the great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphiliticum), which also bears its flowers on a similar raceme. Great blue lobelia can express their flowers in different shades from light to dark blue.
Sometimes a rarer white form shows up. It is not a different species or subspecies but the expression of the recessive genes for white flowers. There are none of those genes in dark blue lobelias, and in light blue lobelias it is more prevalent. Sometimes in larger populations, the genes mix in such a way that a plant with pure white flowers blooms. Were you to collect and grow the seeds from one of these white ones, the offspring would most likely be some shade of blue.
While not likely, it is possible to see an all-American splash of color where the red cardinal flower and white and blue forms of the great blue lobelia are lined up in a row like a patriotic celebration of North American native plants.
Across North Carolina, there are 14 different species in the genus Lobelia. Here in Western North Carolina, there are eight species of Lobelia. Most of them are diminutive and really cute. This includes the species Lobelia inflata, known as Indian tobacco and once used by Cherokee people to treat respiratory and skin diseases and in ceremonies. This species has tiny flowers only up to a quarter-inch long and wide. They are easily overlooked.
As I drive the back mountain roads in the summer with so many blooms catching my eye, I’m reminded of this incredible and hilarious wildflower identification book that is sadly only available online as a PDF, but I dream of having it live on my bookshelf. It is called “A Field Guide to Roadside Wildflowers at Full Speed” and was written by Prairie Ecologist Chris Helzer.
This book takes itself seriously in all of its ridiculousness as it teaches you how to make out what prairie species you are seeing as you drive at 70 miles per hour down the highway. All of the photographs are blurry, and the descriptions of the plants are detailed with tips on how to make out the many blurred flowers you’ll see at 70 mph.
(The Joyful Botanist leads weekly wildflower walks most Fridays and offers consultations and private group tours through Bigelow’s Botanical Excursions. bigelownc@gmail.com.)