CRUDE DRUGS. 633 



German spearmint oil is obtained from Mentha crispa, which 

 is regarded as a cultural variety of M. arveiisis. The plant is 

 sparingly naturalized in the United States from Europe. It some- 

 what resembles M. piperita, but is distinguished by its cuspid, 

 irregularly dentate leaves. It yields an oil containing carvone. 



LOBELIA. — The leaves and flowering tops of Lobelia inHata 

 (Fam. Campanulacese), an annual herb (Fig. 272) indigenous to 

 the Eastern and Central United States and Canada, and cultivated 

 in New York and Massachusetts (p. 388). Lobelia should be col- 

 lected after a portion of the capsules have become inflated, care- 

 fully dried and preserved. 



Description. — Stem cylindrical, somewhat angular, slightly 

 winged, light brown, with numerous spreading hairs, internodes 2 

 to 3 cm. long. Leaves elliptical or ovate-lanceolate, alternate, 4 

 to 9 cm. long, 8 to 30 mm. broad ; apex acute or acuminate ; base 

 obtuse or acute ; margin irregularly denticulate, the divisions with 

 a yellowish-brown, gland-like apex ; upper surface yellowish-green 

 or light brown and with scattered bristly hairs ; under surface 

 light brown, witii numerous bristly hairs, the veins of the first 

 order diverging at an angle of about 65" and curving upward near 

 the margin ; petiole either wanting or about i mm. long. Inflor- 

 escence in leafy spikes ; pedicel about 3 mm. long ; calyx 5-parted, 

 about 5 mm. long, the subulate lobes about as long as the tube; 

 corolla 5-parted, tubular, about as long as the calyx, pale blue, 

 upper ■.portion cleft nearly to the base, the lobes on either side of 

 the cleft erect or recurved, the other three united ; stamens with 

 anthers united above into a curved tube; stigma 2-lobed, ovary 

 2-locular. Fruit an ovoid, inflated capsule 5 to 8 mm. long, open- 

 ing at the summit, apex with the remains of the calyx. Seeds 

 numerous, brownish, somewhat ellipsoidal or ovoid, about 0.7 mm. 

 long, coarsely reticulate. Odor slight ; taste mild, becoming acrid. 



Constituents. — An amorphous, acrid, emetic alkaloid lobe- 

 line, which decomposes readily on heating, and is contained in 

 greatest amount in the seeds; a non-acrid but pungent volatile 

 oil lobelianin ; a colorless, tasteless, crystalline, neutral principle 

 INFLATIN, which is intimately associated with the alkaloid; and 

 lobelic acid, which is combined with the alkaloid lobeline. Lobe- 

 LACRiN is regarded as the lobelate of lobeline. ,The seeds contain 



