280 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



flowered raceme of bright-blue flowers, each flower subtended by a leafy- 

 bract. Leaves smooth or sparingly pubescent, 2 to 6 inches long, one-half 

 to 2 inches wide, long pointed at the apex, narrowed at the base, the lower 

 leaves petioled, the upper sessile, irregularly toothed and alternate. Calyx 

 hairy, with five long, narrow, pointed lobes with large appendages between 

 the lobes. Corolla about 1 inch long, blue fading to pale blue, marked with 

 white on the lobes of the lower lip ; upper lip of the corolla two-lobed and 

 erect, the lobes nearly as large as the three lobes of the lower lip. The 

 flowers are rarely entirely white. 



In moist or wet soil, along streams, in wet thickets and marshes, Maine 

 to Ontario and South Dakota, south to Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas and 

 Colorado. Flowering from July to October. 



Indian or Wild Tobacco ; Eyebright 



Lobelia inflata Linnaeus 



Plate 222a 



An acrid, poisonous herb, 1 to 3 feet high; stem hairy and leafy, panicu- 

 lately branched, from an annual root. Leaves ovate or oblong, bluntly 

 toothed, alternate, the upper sessile and pointed, the lower petioled and 

 blunt, 1 to 2§ inches long, rather thin and pubescent. Flowers small, pale 

 blue or violet, arranged rather loosely in spikelike, leafy racemes, each 

 flower subtended by a leaflike bract, the lower bracts longer than the 

 flowers. Calyx tube greatly inflated in fruit forming a rounded, ribbed 

 capsule containing many seeds. In structure the corolla is similar to the 

 other species of Lobelia, but much less conspicuous. 



In dry fields and thickets, often in poor soil, Labrador to Saskatchewan, 

 south to Georgia, Arkansas and Kansas. Flowering from July to October. 

 The different names given in different localities to this plant (Gagroot, 

 Emetic Weed, Asthma Weed, etc.) give some idea of the herbal character 

 of the species. It was formerly much used as an emetic and the Indians 

 are supposed to have smoked and chewed the bitter leaves, hence the name 

 " Indian tobacco." 



