Blue Lobelia
Lobelia siphilitica
This short-lived perennial is native to North America, also known as blue cardinal flower, produces an abundance of large blue to white flowers. European settlers believed it could cure syphilis, hence the scientific name.
Peter Kalm, the eighteenth-century Swedish natural historian, reported that native Americans used this perennial as a remedy for venereal disease. Carl Linnaeus therefore named it siphilitica. Although grown in European gardens earlier, it was sold by Philadelphia nurseryman Bernard McMahon in 1804. Great Blue Lobelia grows to three feet and produces an elegant blue, sometimes white, flower in mid to late summer.
In Bloom at Monticello is made possible by support from The Richard D. and Carolyn W. Jacques Foundation.
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Heirloom Seeds and Plants from the Monticello collection
Plant history in your gardens with seeds and plants from Monticello and the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants.
