LOBELIA
Lobelia inflata
COMMON NAMES: Indian tobacco, emetic weed, poke weed, asthma weed, gagroot, wild tobacco.
FEATURES: A genus of more than two hundred species of showy annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs of
tropical and temperate regions, belonging to the bellflower family (Campanulaceae). This plant grows
wild in most sections of the United States and is often known as Indian tobacco because of its taste.
However, it is in no way related to tobacco and does not contain nicotine or other poisonous properties.
In all species the tubular, five-lobed corolla is irregular with a split on the upper side, an upper lip
with two erect lobes, and a lower one with three spreading lobes. Lobelia flowers from July to
November; the flowers are small and numerous, pale blue in this species, and a variety of red, yellow,
white, or blue in others. The leaves are alternate, ovate, lanceolate, veiny, and hairy; it has a fibrous root
and an erect, angular, very hairy stem 6 inches to 3 feet in height. The fruit is a two-celled ovoid capsule
containing numerous small brown seeds. More than twenty species attain considerable heights (up to 15
feet in the high mountains of Africa and Asia). Some dwarf lobelia plants (Lobelia erina) are cultivated
as bedding plants or in hanging baskets.
The proper time for gathering is from the last of July to the middle of October. The plant should be
dried in the shade and then preserved in packages or covered vessels, especially if reduced to powder.
The people of New England used it long before the time of Samuel Thompson, its assumed discoverer.
Contains various alkaloids, lobeline and others. The milky juice is very poisonous to livestock. The
whole plant is active, and the stalks are used indiscriminately with the leaves by those who are better
acquainted with its properties. The root is supposed to be more energetic, medicinally, than any other part
of the plant.