Lobelia Species, Devil's Tobacco

Dramatic hummingbird magnet from June through September. Looks spectacular in front of large bronze phormiums. I grow this in my South Se...Read Moreattle yard in poor, dry soil in full sun. Each year it comes back bigger and stronger and has self-sown a bit lately. My two three-year old plants survived the harsh winter of 2008-2009 just fine without any protection or mulch.

I have this growing in poor, dry soil, full sun, by the front door. It looks spectacular from July through September and comes back stron...Read Moreger every year. Hummingbirds love it.

TUPA (Lobelia tupa), a tall, variable plant of the high Andes, is also called tabaco del diablo ("devil's tobacco"). In Chile, the Mapuch...Read Moree Indians smoke the dried leaves of this beautiful red-flowered plant for their narcotic effects. Whether they are truly hallucinogenic has not yet been established. They contain the alkaloid lobeline and several derivatives of it. The same alkaloid occurs in some North American species of Lobelia, especially L. inflata, known locally as Indian tobacco. It has been used medicinally and as a smoking deterrent. There are 300 species of Lobelia, mostly tropical and subtropical, and they belong to the bluebell family, Campanuloceae. Some are highly prized as garden ornamentals.


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