Lobelia nicotianaefolia (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Lobelia nicotianaefolia Roth ex Roem. & Schult.

Protologue: Roemer & Schultes, Syst. veg. 5: 47 (1819).

Family: Campanulaceae

Synonyms

• Lobelia pyramidalis Wallich (1820),
• Rapuntium pyramidale Presl (1836).

Vernacular names

• Philippines: adlabong, kanyuong (Igorot), balyongyong (Bontok)
• Thailand: haang kai faa (northern)
• Vietnam: bả thuốc, sơn cánh khúc.

Distribution

From India and Sri Lanka, Indo-China, southern China to the Philippines and Sulawesi (Indonesia).

Uses

The seeds are very poisonous, and used as an insecticide. In Vietnam, the crushed leaves or the juice is applied to abscesses and furuncles.

Observations

• A coarse, biannual or perennial herb, up to 2(-4.5) m tall, stem terete at base, angular above, hollow, simple or apically branched.
• Leaves spirally arranged, crowded when young, oblong to narrowly lanceolate, gradually smaller towards apex, 10-50 cm × 4-8 cm, base long decurrent, apex acuminate, margins serrate, both sides hairy; raceme terminal, up to 45 cm long, at base often panicle-like, pedicel 1-2.5 cm long.
• Flower up to 3.5 cm long, variable in colour, whitish, pink, blue or purple, sepals linear to lanceolate, up to 12 mm long, corolla up to 3 cm long, outside glabrous or hairy, inside hairy, dorsal lobes connate with lateral ones at least for half its length, ventral and lateral lobes equal in length, filaments 1.5-2 cm long, free and hairy at base, upwards puberulous.
• Capsule rounded-cupular, 1 cm × 0.4-0.6 cm, 7-12-veined, glabrous to hairy.
• Seed flattened ellipsoid, small, 0.5 mm long, yellowish-brown, smooth.

L. nicotianaefolia occurs in open localities on ridges in montane forest, often on grassy mountain slopes and hills, from 600-2300 m altitude. L. nicotianaefolia is a very polymorphous species, and microspecies, based on characters like presence or absence of bracteoles, insertion of the bracteoles, branching patterns, hairiness, and size of flowers, do not hold.

Selected sources

• [74] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1964—1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1964) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [215] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948—1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [739] Nguyen Van Duong, 1993. Medicinal plants of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. Mekong Printing, Santa Ana, California, United States. 528 pp.

Main genus page

• Lobelia

Authors

• G.H. Schmelzer