FIGWORT AND LOBELIA FAMILIES. 147 
FIGWORT FAMILY—Scrophulariaceae. 
THE PURPLE FOXGLOVE, Digitalis purpurea L., con- 
tains a number of poisonous alkaloids, and is used in 
medicine, chiefly as a heart stimulant. An overdose, or a 
succession of full medicinal ones, will cause the heart to 
lose force and become irregular. When death results it is 
from failure of the circulation. 
Treatment consists of the use of emetics and purga- 
tives along with tannic acid and alcohol or opium. 
The Foxglove is a European plant. It was introduced 
into this country for decorative purposes, and has escaped 
from gardens in some localities, especially along the west- 
ern coast. It is a tall, pubescent, stout-stemmed biennial 
herb with alternate leaves, the lower ones petioled and 
ovate lanceolate and the upper sessile and smaller. The 
drooping flowers are irregular, purple and spotted, and 
are borne in long racemes. The corolla is tubular, and 
the name digitalis comes from its fancied resemblance to 
the finger of a glove. 
LOBELIA FAMILY—Lobeliaceae. 
THE INDIAN TOBACCO, Lobelia inflata L., known also as 
Wild Tobacco, Asthma-weed, Gad-root and Lobelia, is used 
in medicine for asthma and similar diseases. Its effects 
are similar to those caused by somewhat smaller amounts 
of tobacco. Overdoses produce prostration, stupor, coma, 
convulsions, and death. 
It grows in fields as far west as Saskatchewan, and is 
an erect, branching, hairy annual. The leaves are toothed, 
the upper ones being very small and bract-like. The 
small blue flowers have an ovoid calyx-tube inflated in 
