Definition of "cardinal flower" []

• A perennial lobelia (Lobelia cardinalis) native to central and eastern North America, having an elongate cluster of showy, brilliant red flowers. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "In speaking of these various flowers, you should endeavor to use descriptive terms which express the most striking quality of the flower; this may be color, as in the cardinal flower or golden-rod; or fragrance, as in the Mayflower; or profusion of blossoms, as in the laurel; or it may be the manner in which it grows -- in clusters, or otherwise."