Common Name: Water Lobelia

General Information

Lobelia dortmanna is a herbaceous perennial plant growing from a stoloniferous rootstock; it produces a clump of basal leaves and erect, slender stems around 20 - 60cm tall[].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a medicine..

Known Hazards

Many, if not all, species in the genus Lobelia contain a range of piperidine alkaloids, particularly lobeline and lobelanine. If ingested, these can cause a range of symptoms including nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, salivation, exhaustion and weakness, dilation of pupils, convulsions, and coma. Generally, the degree of toxicity is only moderate and plants are only harmful in larger quantities - indeed several species have medicinal uses and a few are even eaten as wild foods[]

Botanical References

Range

Western Europe - France and Britain, north to Scandanavia and northwest Russia

Habitat

Shallow water in stony lakes and tarns with acid water[].

Properties

Medicinal Rating
Habit	Perennial
Height	0.30 m
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of shallow, acid water, it succeeds in full sun or light shade[].

Edible Uses

None known

Medicinal

A tincture of the fresh plant can cure headaches and noises in the ears[].
The following notes are for Lobelia inflata - this species is said to have similar actions[].

Indian Tobacco was a traditional North American Indian remedy for a wide range of conditions[]. Nowadays it is used mainly as a powerful antispasmodic herb in the treatment of respiratory and muscle disorders[]. Acting also as a respiratory stimulant, Indian Tobacco is a valuable remedy for conditions such as bronchial asthma and chronic bronchitis[]. This remedy, however, should be used with great caution and only under the supervision of a qualified practitioner[, , ]. Excess doses cause nausea, vomiting, drowsiness and respiratory failure[]. See also the notes above on toxicity.

The dried flowering herb and the seed are antiasthmatic, antispasmodic, diaphoretic, diuretic, emetic, expectorant and nervine[, , , , , ]. The plant is taken internally in the treatment of asthma, bronchitis, whooping cough and pleurisy[].
Externally, the plant is used in treating pleurisy, rheumatism, tennis elbow, whiplash injuries, boils and ulcers[].

The plant contains the alkaline 'lobeline' which has proved to be of value in helping people to give up smoking tobacco[, , ]. It is contained in many proprietary anti-smoking mixtures where it mimics the effects of nicotine[].
The alkaloids present in the leaves are used to stimulate the removal of phlegm from the respiratory tract[]. When chewed, the leaves induce vomiting, headache and nausea - in larger doses it has caused death[]. The alkaloids first act as a stimulant and then as a depressive to the autonomic nervous system and in high doses paralyses muscular action in the same way as curare[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame[]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Division in spring[].
Basal cuttings in spring[]. Harvest the shoots when they are about 10cm long with plenty of underground stem. Pot them up into individual pots and keep them in light shade in a cold frame or greenhouse until they are rooting well. Plant them out in the summer.
Layering in moist sand, it forms roots at the nodes[].