162 LOBELIA INFLATA 



below, enclosed in the tube of the anthers. Fruit inflated, obovoid 

 or nearly globular, crowned by the persistent sepals and remains 

 of the corolla ; pericarp very thin when ripe, papery and 

 crumpled, pale brown, 2 -celled, indehiscent or opening irregularly 

 at the summit. Seeds very numerous, exceedingly small, oblong- 

 ovoid, rich orange brown, with a raised network of golden 

 yellowy embryo straight in axis of the endosperm. 



Habitat. Found in dry places throughout the northern United 

 States, and extending northward to Hudson' s Bay and Saskatchawan, 

 and southward to Mississippi. It also occurs in Kamtschatka. 

 It readily grows in English gardens, but has little beauty to 

 recommend it in comparison with many other species of the 

 genus. 



Hook., PI. Bor. Am., ii, p. 30; A. Gray, Man. Bot. IT. S., p. 283; 

 Chapman, PL South States, p. 254; Alph. DC., 1. c., p. 380; 

 Lindl., Med. Bot, p. 403. 



Official Part and Name. LOBELIA. The dried flowering herb 

 (B. P.). The flowering herb (Lobelia) (I. P.). LOBELIA. The 

 leaves and tops (U. S. P.). 



Commerce. The herb is imported into England from North 

 America, usually in the form of compressed, oblong, rectangular 

 cakes or packages, weighing from half a pound to a pound each, 

 and from 1 to 1| inches thick. These packages are wrapped in 

 paper sealed at the ends, and properly labelled with the name of 

 the herb and of some herb -grower ; they are usually prepared by 

 the Shakers of New Lebanon. Lobelia is also occasionally found 

 in commerce in an uncompressed state. 



General Characters and Composition. Lobelia of commerce, 

 both from the packages and in an uncompressed state, consists of 

 the dried herb cut up into pieces of varying sizes. Its colour 

 is yellowish green ; its odour somewhat irritating ; and its taste 

 after being chewed burning and acrid, very similiar to that of 

 tobacco, and causing, like it, a flow of saliva. The powder has a 

 greenish colour. 



Lobelia seeds, from forming one of the best means for detecting 



