INDIAN TOBACCO

(species Lobelia inflata), annual plant of the family Lobeliaceae, native to open woodlands of North America. It was once considered a medicinal plant because of the emetic alkaloid present in the plant parts, especially the roots, but is now regarded as poisonous. The Indian tobacco's leafy flower spike, about 1 m (3 feet) tall, begins blooming at the bottom and at maturity produces inflated, oval fruits. Its flowers are small, pale blue, and bilaterally symmetrical. Basal leaves are toothed and broadly oval; stem leaves are narrower. The plant is a lawn weed in some areas.