Nature Bulletin No. 499-A   September 22, 1973
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
George W. Dunne, President
Roland F. Eisenbeis, Supt. of Conservation

****:THE LOBELIAS

In these early fall days before October's killing frosts ring down the 
curtain on our 1973 wildflower show, it is good to get out in the open 
and see what blossoms take part in the last act. Not the stars of the 
performance, and not last in the massed chorus, of color either, the 
Lobelias play brilliant minor roles.

Colonies of the most vivid of the Lobelias, the Cardinal Flower, can be 
seen in some of the wetlands of the Palos forest preserves and in the big 
swamp at Indiana Dunes State Park. It is a perennial, two feet high or 
taller, topped by clusters of rich vermilion blossoms. The name is taken 
from its supposed resemblance in color to the famous hat worn by 
cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.

This is one of several common flowers with elongated flower-tubes and 
orange or red colors attractive to hummingbirds upon which they 
depend for pollination. Other examples are the columbine, the trumpet 
honeysuckle, the trumpet creeper, the orange jewelweed, the scarlet 
sage, and the Oswego tea. In the cardinal flower the stamen tips are 
united to form a tube around the pistil -- a tube so long that the feathery 
head of the bird brushes off pollen while probing with its long beak and 
tongue for the nectar deep inside. Each flower is followed in autumn by 
a capsule containing innumerable seeds, among the smallest of any 
native wildflower -- smaller than a mustard seed.

The Great Blue Lobelia, another late bloomer, is the cardinal flower's 
twin sister. In the Chicago region it is found frequently in open marshy 
ground and along moist stream banks. Its numerous tubular flowers, 
bright blue touched with white, are borne on a long leafy spike. Just as 
red and orange attract hummingbirds, blue flowers attract bees and, in 
this case, the bumblebee carries the pollen. Almost 300 years ago this 
species was taken to England where it has been cultivated and 
hybridized with other Lobelias to produce several varieties of highly 
prized garden flowers. Another, the little annual Edging Lobelia is 
grown in hanging baskets, window boxes and in borders.

The one economically important Lobelia is the Indian Tobacco found in 
dry fields and woods. Its leaves and seeds contain a substance 
poisonous to livestock, called lobeline, which is chemically similar to 
nicotine in people trying to quit the tobacco habit. This substance 
affects the heart and blood pressure, and is used to relieve bronchitis 
and asthma -- hence another name, Asthma Weed. The dried leaves, 
mixed with those of the Jimson weed, are made into cigarettes and 
smoked by asthma sufferers.

A species with delicate blue flowers, the Bog Lobelia, prefers wet 
alkaline soils such as the marshes of the Illinois Peach State Park north 
of Waukegan. While most kinds are associated with the latter half of 
our blooming season, another species, the little Pale Spiked Lobelia, 
adds a touch of light blue to the prairies in late spring.

Over the world there are hundreds of species of plants belonging to the 
Lobelia family. They are characterized by acrid milky juice, irregular 
tubular flowers and seeds in pods. Perhaps the most bizarre kind is a 
tree in the equatorial mountains of Africa, which reaches a height of 25 
feet with a flower spike six feet long.

They are named after Matthias de l'Obell, a Flemish herbalist.