Indian tobacco

Indian tobacco
a common American plant, Lobelia inflata, of the lobelia family, having small, blue flowers and inflated capsules.
[1610-20]

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▪ plant
 (species Lobelia inflata), annual plant of the family Campanulaceae, 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 metre (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.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Indian tobacco — Indian In di*an (?; 277), a. [From India, and this fr. Indus, the name of a river in Asia, L. Indus, Gr. ?, OPers. Hindu, name of the land on the Indus, Skr. sindhu river, the Indus. Cf. {Hindu}.] [1913 Webster] 1. Of or pertaining to India… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Indian tobacco — Indian tobacco, s. Lobelia …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • Indian tobacco — n 1) an American wild lobelia (Lobelia inflata) with small blue flowers that is the source of the drug lobelia 2) LOBELIA (2) …   Medical dictionary

  • Indian tobacco — ☆ Indian tobacco n. a poisonous annual plant (Lobelia inflata) of the bellflower family, common over the E U.S., with light blue flowers in slender spikes, and inflated pods …   English World dictionary

  • Indian tobacco — noun 1. tobacco plant of South America and Mexico • Syn: ↑wild tobacco, ↑Nicotiana rustica • Hypernyms: ↑tobacco, ↑tobacco plant 2. North American wild lobelia having small blue flowers and inflated capsules formerly used as an antispasmodic • …   Useful english dictionary

  • Indian-tobacco — pūstažiedė lobelija statusas T sritis vardynas apibrėžtis Lobelijinių šeimos vaistinis nuodingas augalas (Lobelia inflata), paplitęs Šiaurės Amerikoje. atitikmenys: lot. Lobelia inflata angl. Indian tobacco vok. indianischer Tabak; Lobelie pranc …   Lithuanian dictionary (lietuvių žodynas)

  • Indian tobacco — noun Date: circa 1618 1. a poisonous North American annual lobelia (Lobelia inflata) with small blue or white flowers 2. a wild tobacco (Nicotiana bigelovii syn. N. quadrivalvis) found in dry valleys from southern California to southern Oregon …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • indian-tobacco — n. Lobelia (North American species, Lobelia inflata) …   New dictionary of synonyms

  • Indian tobacco — In′dian tobac co n. pln a North American plant, Lobelia inflata, lobelia family, with small blue flowers and inflated capsules • Etymology: 1610–20 …   From formal English to slang

  • Indian tobacco — /ɪndiən təˈbækoʊ/ (say indeeuhn tuh bakoh) noun a common American herb, Lobelia inflata, with small blue flowers and inflated capsules …  

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