1448

 

Lobelia nicotianifolia Roth ex Schult.


Synonym

:

Lobelia beddomeana E.Wimm.

Family

:

Campanulaceae

Local name

:

English-Wild Tobacco

Malayalam-  Kattupokala

Flowering and fruiting period

:

December

Distribution

:

Indo-Malesia

Distribution in Kerala

:

Kottayam, Kozhikkode, Kollam, Idukki, Pathanamthitta, Malappuram, Kannur, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Wayanad

Habitat

:

Grasslands, shola and evergreen forests

Uses

:

Lobelia nicotianifolia is used in India to treat bronchitis, asthma, and insect and scorpion bites and to induce nausea and vomiting.

Key botanical characters:

Wild Tobacco is a tall, erect, much branched, somewhat hairy herb, which grows to 1.5-3 m in height. The leaves, resembling those of tobacco, are narrowly obovate-lanceolate, the lower ones being 30X5 cm, while the upper ones gradually become smaller. The flowers are large, white, and borne in terminal racemes 30-50 cm long. Flowers are 3-4 cm long, two-lipped. The sepal are smooth or hairy, narrow, about 1.2 cm long. The capsules are 2-celled, somewhat rounded, and about 1.5 cm in diameter. The seeds are numerous very small, ellipsoid, and compressed.



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