Lobelia nicotianifolia
Lobelia nicotianifolia
Safety & Hazards
The seeds are very poisonous[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ]. The dry herb, when handled, is very acrid, and causes irritation to the throat and nostrils like tobacco. The symptoms of poisoning are similar to those of nicotine[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ]. The latex of the plant causes dermatitis[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ]. Many, if not all, species in the genus Lobelia contain a range of piperidine alkaloids, particularly lobeline and lobelanine. If ingested, these can cause a range of symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, salivation, exhaustion and weakness, dilation of pupils, convulsions, and coma. Generally, the degree of toxicity is only moderate and plants are only harmful in larger quantities - indeed several species have medicinal uses and a few are even eaten as wild foods[ 293 Title Poisonous Plants of North Carolina Publication Author Website http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes. ]
Botanical Description
Lobelia nicotianifolia is a coarse, biennial or perennial herb that can grow up to 2 metres tall, exceptionally to 4.5 metres. The stems can be unbranched, or with branches near their apices[ 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. , 451 Title Flora Malesiana Series 1 Publication Author Various Website http://www.archive.org Publisher Nationaal Herbarium Nederiand, Universiteit Leiden branch Year 0 ISBN Description A massive treatment of the plants of the Malaysian Archipelago. Much of it has been made available to download from the Internet ]. The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine and insecticide. It is a commonly used medicinal herb in India, where it is gathered in quantity from the wild for local use and for trade[ 2020 Title Trade in Indian Medicinal Plants Publication Ethnobotany of India Vol 5., 321-345, 2018 Author D.K.Ved, S.Noorunnisa Begum, & K.Ravi Kumar Publisher Apple Academic Press; Oakville, Canada Year 2018 ISBN 978-1-77188-600-0 Description ].