Cardinal Flower Print
Cardinal Flower Print
Size
12 × 18 in overall, unframed. The plate sits on an ivory sheet with a border of about an inch, so it fits a standard ready-made frame of the same size, with or without a mat.
Printed on 189 g/m² (10.3 mil) enhanced matte paper.
Want it ready to hang? The same plate comes framed in Black or Red Oak.
The red spires of the creek bank in July.
The print
- The full plate with its name, legend and credits, re-rendered from the source scan at print size, not enlarged from a shirt file.
- Restored from a library scan of the original book; nothing redrawn.
- Keep out of direct sunlight; a frame with glass or acrylic keeps it clean.
Shipping & production
Each print is printed for you after you order, usually within 2–5 business days, and ships on its own (separate from any shirts or framed prints in the same order). Shipping is shown at checkout before you pay.
Returns
If your print arrives damaged or misprinted, contact us within 30 days of delivery with a photo and we'll send a replacement or a refund. Because every print is made to order, we can't accept returns for a change of mind.
Plate 020
From the book
- Species
- Lobelia cardinalis
- As named in the book
- Cardinalflower.
- Artist
- Mary Vaux Walcott
- Book
- North American Wild Flowers, vol. IV, pl. 263, 1925
“…loves swampy places or the banks of streams, where in midsummer it reaches its perfection.”
Then and now
Pollinated chiefly by ruby-throated hummingbirds.
Field notes
That red is aimed at one customer: the ruby-throated hummingbird.
If you've waded a small stream in late July, you've seen it: a spike of red so saturated it looks lit from inside, standing out of the green at the water's edge. Walcott wrote that it "loves swampy places or the banks of streams, where in midsummer it reaches its perfection."
Bees see red poorly; hummingbirds see it vividly. The long tubes, scarlet color and lack of scent are an invitation to the ruby-throated hummingbird, its chief pollinator. An arch of anthers sits right above the flower's mouth and dabs pollen onto the bird's head as it drinks.
The spike blooms from the bottom up, and each flower starts as a pollen donor before switching to a receiver. That keeps the plant from fertilizing itself, and keeps the hummingbirds moving from plant to plant.