Lobelia inflata

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Indian tobacco
Lobelia inflata - Kohler-s Medizinal-Pflanzen-218.jpg
Lobelia inflata [1]
Status TNC G5.svg
Secure  (NatureServe) [2]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Campanulaceae
Genus: Lobelia
Species:
L. inflata
Binomial name
Lobelia inflata
L.

Lobelia inflata, also known as Indian tobacco or puke weed, is a species of Lobelia native to eastern North America, from southeastern Canada (Nova Scotia to southeast Ontario) south through the eastern United States to Alabama and west to Kansas. [3]

Contents

Description

Lobelia inflata. Flower Lobelia inflata 003.JPG
Lobelia inflata. Flower

Lobelia inflata is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant growing to 15–100 cm (5.9–39.4 in) tall, with stems covered in tiny hairs. Its leaves are usually about 8 cm (3.1 in) long, and are ovate and toothed. They are alternately arranged. It has violet colored flowers that are tinted yellow on the inside, and usually appear in mid-summer and continue to bloom into fall. [4] The seedcases are small, brown, dehiscent, and papery. [5]

Propagation

Propagation is usually accomplished by cuttings or seed. Seeds are sown in containers in mid spring or mid fall. The seeds take about 2 weeks to germinate.

Traditional uses and adverse effects

Lobelia inflata has a long use as a medicinal plant as an entheogenic, emetic, and skin or respiratory aid. [6] [7] Native Americans used it for respiratory and muscle disorders, as a purgative, and as a ceremonial medicine. [6] [7] The leaves were chewed and smoked. [8] The plant was used as a traditional medicinal plant by the Cherokee, Iroquois, Penobscot, and other indigenous peoples. [7] The foliage was burned by the Cherokee as a natural insecticide, to smoke out gnats. [7]

Although it may be used medicinally, [9] consuming lobelia causes adverse effects, which may include sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, rapid heartbeat, mental confusion, convulsions, hypothermia, coma, or possibly death. [6] [10] The root is toxic and can be fatal if eaten. [6] [8]

Chemical constituents

Lobelia inflata contains multiple alkaloid compounds, including lobeline, norlobelanine, lobelanidine, and radicamine, among other compounds, such as flavonoids, terpenes, alkynes, and coumarins. [6] [11] [12] Lobeline concentration is highest in the seeds. [6]

Related Research Articles

<i>Lobelia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Lobelia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Campanulaceae comprising 415 species, with a subcosmopolitan distribution primarily in tropical to warm temperate regions of the world, a few species extending into cooler temperate regions. They are known generally as lobelias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicotine poisoning</span> Medical condition

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<i>Veratrum viride</i> Species of plant

Veratrum viride, known as Indian poke, corn-lily, Indian hellebore, false hellebore, green false hellebore, or giant false-helleborine, is a species of Veratrum native to eastern and western North America. It is extremely toxic, and is considered a pest plant by farmers with livestock. The species has acquired a large number of other common names within its native range, including American false hellebore, American white hellebore, bear corn, big hellebore, corn lily, devil's bite, duck retten, itchweed, poor Annie, blue hellebore and tickleweed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abrin</span> Chemical compound

Abrin is an extremely toxic toxalbumin found in the seeds of the rosary pea, Abrus precatorius. It has a median lethal dose of 0.7 micrograms per kilogram of body mass when given to mice intravenously. The median toxic dose for humans ranges from 10 to 1000 micrograms per kilogram when ingested and is 3.3 micrograms per kilogram when inhaled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poppy tea</span> Herbal tea made out of poppy straw or poppy seeds

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<i>Lobelia cardinalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Lobelia cardinalis, the cardinal flower, is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family Campanulaceae native to the Americas, from southeastern Canada south through the eastern and southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America to northern Colombia.

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<i>Mandragora officinarum</i> Species of plant

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Lobeline is a piperidine alkaloid found in a variety of plants, particularly those in the genus Lobelia, including Indian tobacco, Devil's tobacco, great lobelia, Lobelia chinensis, and Hippobroma longiflora. In its pure form, it is a white amorphous powder which is freely soluble in water.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malaoxon</span> Chemical compound

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<i>Lobelia kalmii</i> Species of flowering plant

Lobelia kalmii is a species of flowering plant with a distribution primarily across Canada and the northern United States in temperate and boreal regions. It was formerly known as Lobelia strictiflora (Rydb.) It is commonly known as Kalm's lobelia, Ontario lobelia and Brook lobelia.

This is a list of plants used by the indigenous people of North America. For lists pertaining specifically to the Cherokee, Iroquois, Navajo, and Zuni, see Cherokee ethnobotany, Iroquois ethnobotany, Navajo ethnobotany, and Zuni ethnobotany.

<i>Gloriosa superba</i> Species of plant

Gloriosa superba is a species of flowering plant in the family Colchicaceae. Common names include flame lily, climbing lily, creeping lily, glory lily, gloriosa lily, tiger claw, and fire lily.

<i>Senega officinalis</i> Species of flowering plant

Senega officinalis is a species of flowering plant in the milkwort family, Polygalaceae. It is native to North America, where it is found in southern Canada and the central and eastern United States. Its common names include Seneca snakeroot, senega snakeroot, senegaroot, rattlesnake root, and mountain flax. Its genus name honors the Seneca people, a Native American group who used the plant to treat snakebite.

<i>Lobelia laxiflora</i> Species of flowering plant

Lobelia laxiflora is a species of flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae. It is native to the Americas, where it is distributed in South, Central, and North America as far north as Arizona in the United States. It is known by several English-language common names, including Mexican lobelia, Sierra Madre lobelia, Mexican cardinalflower, looseflowers lobelia, and drooping lobelia. In Spanish and Nahuatl it is known as aretitos, acaxóchitl, and chilpanxóchitl. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit as an ornamental.

This is a list of plants documented to have been traditionally used by the Cherokee, and how they are used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zygacine</span> Chemical compound

Zygacine is a steroidal alkaloid of the genera Toxicoscordion, Zigadenus, Stenanthium and Anticlea of the family Melanthiaceae. These plants are commonly known and generally referred to as death camas. Death camas is prevalent throughout North America and is frequently the source of poisoning for outdoor enthusiasts and livestock due to its resemblance to other edible plants such as the wild onion. Despite this resemblance, the death camas plant lacks the distinct onion odor and is bitter to taste.

References

  1. Franz Eugen Köhler, 1897, Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen
  2. NatureServe (30 June 2023). "Lobelia inflata". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
  3. "Lobelia inflata". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved 2009-04-09.
  4. Caldecott, T. Western Materia Medica: Lobelia inflata (pdf file) [ permanent dead link ]
  5. "Some Call Them Weeds". 2016-01-02.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Lobelia". Drugs.com. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 University of Michigan at Dearborn: Native American Ethnobotany of Lobelia inflata
  8. 1 2 Niering, William A.; Olmstead, Nancy C. (1985) [1979]. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers, Eastern Region. Knopf. p. 441. ISBN   0-394-50432-1.
  9. "Lobelia". EBSCO Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Review Board. January 2006. Retrieved 2007-09-12.
  10. "Lobelia". University of Maryland Medical Center. Archived from the original on 2017-06-29. It may cause serious side effects, such as profuse sweating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, tremors, rapid heartbeat, mental confusion, convulsions and hypothermia.
  11. Kursinszki, László; Szőke, Éva (2015). "HPLC-ESI-MS/MS of brain neurotransmitter modulator lobeline and related piperidine alkaloids in Lobelia inflataL". Journal of Mass Spectrometry. 50 (5): 727–33. Bibcode:2015JMSp...50..727K. doi:10.1002/jms.3581. PMID   26259655.
  12. "Taxon: Lobelia inflata L." National Plant Germplasm System.