LOBELIA.
Lobelia inflata L.

Other common names.—Indian tobacco, wild tobacco, bladder pod, asthma weed, gagroot, pukeweed, vomitwort, low belia, eyebright. (Fig. 15.)

Range and habitat.—This poisonous weed occurs nearly everywhere throughout the United States, being most plentiful east of the Mississippi River, and thriving in dry, clayey, or siliceous soil in sunny situations along roadsides, and in old fields and pastures.

Description.—The erect leafy stem of this annual herbaceous plant is from 1 to 3 feet high, from a fibrous root. It is simple and rough-hairy below, smooth above, and bears a few short branches. The entire plant contains an acrid milky juice. It belongs to the bellflower family (Campanulaceæ).

The pale-green leaves are alternate, from 1 to 2½ inches long, gradually diminishing in size as they reach the summit of the plant, the lower leaves being borne on stalks, while the upper ones are stemless. They are thin, oblong or oval, blunt, irregularly toothed, and almost wavy, with short hairs on both surfaces.

From July until frost the rather inconspicuous, very small pale-blue flowers appear. These are very numerous, each one borne in the axils of the upper leaves on very short stems, all together forming a long, spike-like head. The lower lip of the flower has three lobes, the upper one two segments, and from the center of the latter the tube of the flower is cleft to the base. The seed pods are in the form of inflated capsules, nearly globular, striated (grooved or marked with parallel lines), and contain very numerous minute dark-brown seeds.

Parts used.—The leaves and flowering tops are used in medicine, and there is also a good demand for the seed. The leaves and tops should be gathered after some of the pods have become inflated, should be dried in the shade, and when dry kept in covered vessels. The dried leaves and tops have a rather disagreeable, somewhat sickening odor, and the taste, though mild at first, soon becomes strongly acrid and nauseous. The seeds are extremely minute, and each capsule is said to contain from 450 to 500 seeds.

Lobelia is an expectorant, acts upon the nervous system and bowels, causes vomiting, and is poisonous.

Price.—The price paid for the dried leaves and tops ranges from 3 to 8 cents per pound, and that for the seed from 15 to 20 cents per pound.