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What is it?

The dried leaves of Lobelia, a plant that comes to us from the American Indian tradition of medicine. Lobelia grows to about half a meter and gives off angular leaves. The flowers of all Lobelias are distinctive and delicate and the medicinal Lobelia is no exception with its exquisitely shaped pale-blue flowers rising from slender stems.

How has it been used?

Lobelia is one of the most important remedies of 'physiomedicalism', which is the system of herbal medicine that developed when the European and American Indian systems merged and subsequently evolved through further back-and-forths over the Atlantic.

Lobelia’s primary use was as a potent relaxant. Lobelia was seen to be able to open blocked channels in the body with robust efficiency. Lobelia has a strong reputation as a treatment for asthma and bronchitis as well as for spasms in the joints or muscles.

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Personal experiences

Lobelia is the most potent relaxing herb I have ever worked with.

Lobelia is very strong and must be used with great care and sensitivity. It potentiates the action of other herbs, enabling them to be absorbed more deeply and rapidly.

Lobelia combines perfectly with Skullcap for mental tension, with Kava for anxiety, with Cramp bark for muscular tension and with Wild Yam for abdominal and pelvic congestion or tension.

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Excerpt from Felter & Lloyd's Kings Dispensatory from 1898

When the circulation exhibits a markedly slow pulse-wave it will be better corrected by lobelia than by any other drug we possess. In fact the most prominent indication for the drug is the full, oppressed, sluggish, doughy pulse. Associate this with thoracic pain, difficult breathing, soreness or bruised feeling within the chest, nausea with tongue heavily coated at base, fullness of tissue, and we have before us a fair range of the action of lobelia. It is a good remedy in cardiac congestion. Perhaps the most important use for this drug will be in the treatment of respiratory affections. For this class of diseases no remedy is more highly valued by physicians of our school. Acute pneumonia, with, tendency to congestion, the breathing being oppressed, is quickly relieved by lobelia. All chronic forms of sore throat, especially when ulcerated, are benefited by it. Chronic pneumonia, bronchitis, and laryngitis are all conditions in which lobelia will be of great service. In asthenic laryngitis of children it is exceedingly useful. It is a remedy of great value in chronic catarrh, dry, hard, or barking coughs, colds, and all forms of irritation and opression of the respiratory tract.

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