Cardinal Plant

Lobelia cardinalis

A slow, tidy plant with round leaves of a bright light green, one of the few that keeps its shape for months without pruning. It grows in the middle of the tank and in the front of a large one.

Light: low
Difficulty: easy
Height: 20 – 30 cm (7.9 – 12 in)
Temperature: 4 – 30 °C (39 – 86 °F)

Native rangeRange on the map

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
Belize
California
Colombia
Colorado
Connecticut
Costa Rica
Delaware
District of Columbia
El Salvador
Florida
Georgia
Guatemala
Honduras
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Mexico Central
Mexico Gulf
Mexico Northeast
Mexico Northwest
Mexico Southeast
Mexico Southwest
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
Nevada
New Brunswick
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Nicaragua
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Ontario
Panamá
Pennsylvania
Québec
Rhode I.
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
West Virginia
Wisconsin

Leaf colour: green, red, pink or purple
Plant type: stem plant
Growth rate: slow
CO₂ demand: low
Tolerates light: medium – high
pH: 6 – 7
Carbonate hardness: 2 – 14 °dKH
General hardness: 0 – 30 °dGH
Placement: midground, foreground +1 midground, foreground, nano tank
Propagation: cuttings
Grows emersed: yes

Appearance

Upright stems 20–30 cm tall closely set with round leaves. Under water they are light green, above water dark green with a purple underside — a plant bought in its above-water form changes appearance completely once submerged.

Keeping

Easy and slow: moderate light is enough, carbon dioxide is not needed, and pruning is a rare job. In an open tank it grows out of the water and opens scarlet flowers there.

Placement

The middle of the tank or the front row of a big one; a group of stems makes a compact bush. Because it grows slowly it does not shade its neighbours out.

Propagation

Cut the top of a stem and plant it — it roots in a couple of weeks, more slowly than most stem plants. The remaining stem branches from the cut.

Water conditions match

The water suits 816 of 1249 species in the catalogue — these are the ones people look up most often.

Butterflyfish Julii Corydoras Red-finned Parotocinclus Gastromyzon monticola Egg-shaped Goldfish Flame Tetra Gardner's Killifish African Tetra Hypsolebias picturatus Common Zacco Labeo Bicolor Gambusia Flying barb Gastromyzon scitulus Albino Zebra Danio Geophagus Brokopondo Homaloptera bilineata Red-tailed Rasbora Boraras naevus Lampeye Killifish Spotted Raphael Catfish Corydoras melanotaenia Festivum cichlid Pseudomugil paskai

Will eat this plant

These species damage plants, especially when their diet is short of vegetable food.

Bengal Loach Zebra Loach Burmese Border Loach Emperor Botia Marbled Headstander Pellegrin's Leporinus Leporinus striatus False Black Tetra Common Metynnis Mylossoma duriventre Red Whiptail Catfish Moonlight Gourami Melanotaenia parva

Will uproot it

These species dig through the substrate and pull rooted plants out.

Marble Loach Peacock Eel Forktail Loach Guntea Loach Long-nosed Loach Horseface Loach Pearlscale Black Moor Goldfish Shubunkin Painted Pleco Featherfin Synodontis Reddish Mystus Catfish Blue Acara Geophagus altifrons Geophagus winemilleri Pearl Cichlid Red-spotted Cichlid Haplochromis philander Red Chromide Jack Dempsey cichlid

Matching water does not mean the fish will leave the plant alone.

The same plant with a different look: light, water and care are shared with the species.

Lobelia cardinalis 'Kleine Form'

Other varieties: Lobelia cardinalis 'Mini', Lobelia cardinalis Wavy, Lobelia Cardinalis Gigantea, Lobelia Cardinalis Red, Lobelia cardinalis 'Nana'

Scientific and other names, conservation status

Other scientific names: Lobelia fulgens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Lobelia graminea Lam., Lobelia splendens Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd., Dortmanna cardinalis, Dortmanna cordigera, Dortmanna engelmanniana, Dortmanna fulgens, Dortmanna graminea, Dortmanna longifolia, Dortmanna phyllostachya, Dortmanna splendens, Dortmannia cardinalis, Dortmannia cordigera, Dortmannia engelmanniana, Dortmannia fulgens, Dortmannia graminea, Dortmannia longifolia, Dortmannia phyllostachya, Dortmannia splendens, Lobelia atrosanguinea, Lobelia canbyi graminea, Lobelia cardinalis alba, Lobelia cardinalis cardinalis, Lobelia cardinalis cordigera, Lobelia cardinalis hispidula, Lobelia cardinalis rosea, Lobelia cardinalis splendens, Lobelia cardinalis graminea, Lobelia cardinalis angustifolia, Lobelia cardinalis candida, Lobelia cardinalis glandulosa, Lobelia cardinalis integerrima, Lobelia cardinalis meridionalis, Lobelia cardinalis multiflora, Lobelia cardinalis phyllostachya, Lobelia cardinalis propinqua, Lobelia cardinalis pseudosplendens, Lobelia cardinalis texensis, Lobelia coccinea, Lobelia cordigera, Lobelia cordigera fatalis, Lobelia cordigera marryattiae, Lobelia cordigera multiflora, Lobelia cordigera pyramidalis, Lobelia formosa, Lobelia fulgens, Lobelia fulgens atrosanguinea, Lobelia fulgens maculata, Lobelia fulgens rosea, Lobelia fulgens glabriuscula, Lobelia fulgens marryattiae, Lobelia fulgens multiflora, Lobelia fulgens propinqua, Lobelia fulgens pyramidalis, Lobelia graminea, Lobelia graminea kerneri, Lobelia graminea intermedia, Lobelia graminea phyllostachya, Lobelia graminea pseudosplendens, Lobelia ignea, Lobelia kerneri, Lobelia longifolia, Lobelia marryattiae, Lobelia mucronata, Lobelia phyllostachya, Lobelia porphyrantha, Lobelia princeps, Lobelia propinqua, Lobelia punicea, Lobelia punicea kerneri, Lobelia ramosa, Lobelia schiedeana, Lobelia splendens, Lobelia splendens ignea, Lobelia splendens atrosanguinea, Lobelia splendens fulgens, Lobelia splendens splendens, Lobelia texensis, Rapuntium cardinale, Rapuntium coccineum, Rapuntium cordigerum, Rapuntium fulgens, Rapuntium gramineum, Rapuntium longifolium, Rapuntium splendens, Tupa ignescens
Lobelia cardinalis: L.
Family: Campanulaceae
Conservation status: LC

Cardinal Plant

Tank conditions

Care and keeping