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Indian Tobacco

Lobelia inflata. Lobelia Family.

One to two feet high. Stem.--Branching from the root. Leaves.--Ovate or oblong; somewhat toothed. Flowers.--Blue or purple; growing in a long raceme. Calyx.--Five-cleft. Corolla.--With a straight tube split down what is apparently the upper side; somewhat two-lipped; the upper lip of two rather erect lobes, the lower spreading and three-cleft. Stamens.--Five; united into a tube. Pistil.--One. Pod.--Much inflated.

During the summer we note in the dry, open fields the blue racemes of the Indian tobacco, and in the later year the inflated pods which give it its specific name. The plant is said to be poisonous if taken internally, and yields a "quack-medicine" of some notoriety. The Indians smoked its dried leaves, which impart to the tongue a peculiar tobacco-like sensation.