24 
if allowed to become damp will turn black. The corolla (petals), with 
the adhering stamens only, is dried, the calyx being rejected. Mullein 
flowers havea sweetish, pleasant odor. 
| Mullein is used in coughs and ca- 
AP tarrh, to quiet nervous irritation, and 
to relieve pain and inflammation. 
According to some authors the dried 
leaves are often smoked like tobacco 
to relieve nasal catarrh and throat 
affections. 
Imports and prices—About 5,000 
pounds of verbascum or mullein flow- 
ers are annually imported, chiefly 
from Germany, in which country this 
plant is cultivated. The leaves are 
also imported to a small extent. 
The price paid for the leaves ranges 
from 23 to 5 cents per pound, and 
that for the flowers may range from 
25 to 75 cents per pound. 
LOBELIA. 
Lobelia inflata L. 
Other common names.—Indian to- 
bacco, wild tobacco, bladder pod, asth- 
ma weed, gagroot, pukeweed, vomit- 
wort, low belia, eyebright. (Fig. 15.) 
Range and habitat.—This poison- 
ous 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 
' Yoot. It is simple and rough-hairy 
below, smooth above, and bears a few 
short branches. The entire plant con- 
tains an acrid milky juice. It belongs 
to the bellflower family (Campanulacez). 
__ The pale-green leaves are alternate, from 1 to 24 inches long, grad- 
Fig. 15.—Lobelia (Lobelia inflata L.). 
