lobelia

lobelia , any plant of the genus Lobelia, annual and perennial herbs of tropical and temperate woodlands and moist places. Most lobelias have blue or purple flowers on a long (1-4 ft/30-122 cm), leafy stem. Native North American species, often cultivated as ornamentals, include the only red lobelia, the cardinal flower ( L. cardinalis ), which is becoming rare; the blue lobelia ( L. syphilitica ), used by Native Americans for the treatment of syphilis; and Indian tobacco ( L. inflata ), named for its odor. The dried leaves and stems of Indian tobacco and sometimes of other species furnish medicinal lobelia, the source of lobeline, which is used as a respiratory stimulant but is poisonous in overdose as are the roots. L. erinus, introduced from S Africa, is a common border plant. Most botanists include Lobelia and related genera in the family Campanulaceae (bluebell family); others consider them a separate family, the Lobeliaceae. Lobelia is classified in the division Magnoliophyta , class Magnoliopsida, order Campanulales, family Campanulaceae.

lobelia Genus of 365 species of flowering plants found worldwide, mainly known as trailing or bedding plants. The flowers may be blue, red or white and are irregularly shaped. The leaves are simple. Family Lobeliaceae.

Lobelia (family Lobeliaceae) A genus comprising mainly herbs and some shrubs in which the flowers, in leaf axils or in racemes, have 2-lipped corollas split down the back, and beards on some anthers. The fruit is a capsule. There are 365 species, throughout most tropical and temperate areas of the world. The genus shows an extraordinary degree of endemism in the E. African mountains, where many species with huge columnar inflorescences occur, each mountain block tending to have 1 or more endemic species in the alpine zones.