Lesson 35: Lobelia

Lesson 35: Lobelia
In this video, I show you Lobelia. This is an essential lung herb, that could save your life.
https://youtu.be/4JbaVaXZgP8

Lobelia is excellent stuff one I've been wanting to get planted, for this very reason. I also have asthma, and my husband has weakened lungs from too many years of smoking. Mullein is in my normal, daily tea, and I want to add lobelia, but it's been hard to find. When is the best time of year to forage & harvest it, please?

If you are foraging, now is a good time to spot plants with flowers.  You can transplant them or collect seeds. Strictly Medicinal has seeds https://strictlymedicinalseeds.com/product/lobelia-official-lobelia-inflata-seeds-organic/

I was just thinking yesterday, maybe this would be good for anaphylaxis, after I had tried a little of the inflata variety a few days ago, which you implied with the bee sting. I have not tried them this way but if they do turn out to be useful in this way it could be incredibly beneficial for a lot of people. I wonder if the Siphilitica would be good for Lyme disease since it is related to syphilis. I have a friend who was attracted to lobelias a lot last year and transplanted them closer, who may now have gotten Lyme disease.  

What an interesting thing to find, those hybrids! Are they a perennial sort?

I’ve been making my way through Matthew Wood’s Book of Herbal Wisdom and read about the Thompsonian use of lobelias. It was interesting to read about and supposedly in certain situations the emetic doses, if I remember correctly, could cure a disease completely and were used to direct other herbs and to influence energy flows in the body. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this if you are willing…

Maieshe Ljin wrote:I was just thinking yesterday, maybe this would be good for anaphylaxis, after I had tried a little of the inflata variety a few days ago, which you implied with the bee sting. I have not tried them this way but if they do turn out to be useful in this way it could be incredibly beneficial for a lot of people. I wonder if the Siphilitica would be good for Lyme disease since it is related to syphilis. I have a friend who was attracted to lobelias a lot last year and transplanted them closer, who may now have gotten Lyme disease.  

What an interesting thing to find, those hybrids! Are they a perennial sort?

I’ve been making my way through Matthew Wood’s Book of Herbal Wisdom and read about the Thompsonian use of lobelias. It was interesting to read about and supposedly in certain situations the emetic doses, if I remember correctly, could cure a disease completely and were used to direct other herbs and to influence energy flows in the body. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on this if you are willing…

I'm not sure about anaphylaxis beyond its bronchodilation effect, but it also has the stimulant properties of tobacco, which could help. I'm not sure if that one is perennial or if it just reseeds well. I'll have to pay more attention. The Thomsonian school is interesting - I have collected several of their old books.  I'm not sure how much they focused on energetics, except in terms of temp. Dr. THompson was from a very cold part of New England before central heating... So, they used cayenne pepper to warm the body and lobelia to induce vomiting to break a fever. But, they also believed in the tonic effect of lobelia, so would include it in various formulas. Bad water and tainted meat was a common cause of illness, so they were very big on purging.

Any chance the ones you found are spicata?
https://gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/lobelia/spicata/