WILDFLOWERS OF NEW MEXICO

This dramatic 2–6-foot-tall, single-stemmed plant loves streambanks, seep springs, and moist soil. Masses can paint stream banks with flaming displays with dense spikes of brilliant red flowers, which are magnets for hummingbirds. All parts of the plant are considered “seriously toxic.”

FLOWER: July–October. The 1–2 inch (25–50 mm) long, scarlet flowers crowd the upper portion of the stalks. The fused petals form a tube that splits open into two lips. The upper lip has 2 arching lobe “wings” spread to either side, and the lower lip has three long, pointed lobes. A thin, red filament tube 1–1 1/2-inches (25–38 mm) long and capped with a gray anther tube extends upward from the petals. White flowers occasionally occur.

LEAVES: Alternate, oblong to lance-shaped leaves, 3–8 inches long (7.5–20 cm) have margins lined with fine to coarse teeth.

HABITAT: Moist sandy, gravelly soils of stream banks, springs, seeps, ditches; desert streams, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa woodlands.

ELEVATION: 3,600–8,800 feet.

RANGE: Widespread across U. S.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Of 3 Lobelia species in NM, this is the only red one. Red Sages, Salvia species, have flowers with 2 rounded lobes on the lower “lip,” not 3.

NM COUNTIES: Southern 3/4 NM in mid-elevation, moist habitats: Catron, Chaves, Dona Ana, Eddy, Hidalgo, Grant, Guadalupe, Lincoln, Luna, McKinley, Otero, San Miguel, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro.