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| ## great blue lobelia {#great-blue-lobelia .Title-Header}             |
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| *Lobelia siphilitica* L.                                              |
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| Plant Symbol = LOSI                                                   |
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Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center

### ![](media/image2.png){width="1.71875in" height="2.801388888888889in"}

# Uses

*Ethnobotanic*: The Iroquois used the plant as a cough medicine. The
Meskwaki ground up the roots of this plant and used it as an
anti-divorce remedy. The mashed roots were secretly put into some common
dish, which was eaten by both husband and wife. The Cherokee used a cold
infusion of the roots of great blue lobelia and cardinal flower to treat
nosebleed. A poultice of the crushed leaves of the plant was used for
headache and a warm leaf infusion was good for colds.

*Wildlife*: Hummingbirds are attracted to the nectar.

# Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural
Resources for this plant's current status, such as, state noxious status
and wetland indicator values.

# Description

*General*: Bellflower Family (Campanulaceae). This herbaceous perennial
is 5 to 15 dm high with frequently branched, erect stems. The alternate
leaves are toothed and narrowly oblong to elliptic to lanceolate or
oblanceolate. The leaves are 8-12 cm and narrow to a sessile base. The
irregular, two-lipped flowers are blue. They appear in long terminal
racemes and are from 15-33 mm long. The corolla has a slit on each side
near the base. The seeds come in a two-celled, many-seeded capsules
opening at the top. The capsules have an ear-lobed or auriculate base.

# Distribution

This plant is found in swamps and wet ground from Maine to Manitoba and
Colorado, south to North Carolina and Texas. For current distribution,
please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web
site.

# Establishment

*General*: Great blue lobelia is comparatively easy to grow. The
capsules can be collected in autumn, usually October. The stalks are cut
below the capsules, and placed upside down in a per sack. Once, home,
the bag is opened so that the capsules are exposed to the air for a few
days. Shake the bag to release the seeds. The capsules that have
remaining seeds can be retrieved and crushed with a rolling pin and
seeds picked from the litter. The seeds can then be planted right away.

*Propagation by seeds*: The seeds will germinate without cold
stratification, but they need light, so sow the seeds in a flat with a
damp fine grade peat lite mix. Keep the flats moist and under lights or
in a greenhouse. They should green up in a few weeks. Transplant them in
4-6 weeks into individual pots such as 70 cell plug trays, use the same
potting mix and keep fertilizing. The seedlings are tiny at first, so
fertilize them every other week with a liquid fertilizer. After another
4 weeks they can be put out in the garden or transplanted into larger
pots of 4 to 6 inch diameter. Plant the plants in an outdoor spot that
is in full sun or very light shade and never dries completely. Space the
plants 8 to 12 inches apart. Add plenty of peat moss when planting and
mulch well to keep the soil cool and moist. Protect the plants from
deer. Great blue lobelia will usually bloom in the first year. Allow the
plants to self-sow. They are heavy feeders, so compost or apply granular
fertilizer when they begin growth.

*Propagation by cuttings*: Take two node stem cuttings (4-6 inches)
before the flowers open and remove the lower leaf and half the upper
leaf. Treat the cutting with hormodin 2 or root-tone and place the
cuttings in a sand and perlite medium, cover lightly, water, and keeping
the medium moist. Roots will form in 2-3 weeks, but the cuttings need to
force a good new crown from the lower node to successfully over-winter.

# Management

When well established, clumps of this plant can be divided in the fall
or spring by separating the basal offshoots from the mother plant and
replanting these divisions and watering them immediately.

# Cultivars, Improved and Selected Materials (and area of origin)

Seeds and plants of selected *Lobelia siphilitica* are available from
many nurseries. It is best to plant species from your local area,
adapted to the specific site conditions where the plants are to be
grown. Contact your local Natural Resources Conservation Service
(formerly Soil Conservation Service) office for more information. Look
in the phone book under "United States Government." The Natural
Resources Conservation Service will be listed under the subheading
"Department of Agriculture."

# References

Banks, W.H. 1953. *Ethnobotany of the Cherokee Indians*. Masters Thesis,
University of Tennessee.

Gleason, H.A. & A. Cronquist 1991. *Manual of vascular plants of
Northeastern United States and adjacent Canada*. Second Edition. The New
York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.

Herrick, J.W. 1995. *Iroquois medical botany*. Syracuse University
Press, Syracuse, New York.

Moerman, D.E. 1998. *Native American ethnobotany*. Timber Press,
Portland, Oregon.

Phillips, H.R. 1985. *Growing and propagating wild flowers*. The
University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Smith, H.H. 1928. *Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki*. Bulletin of the Public
Museum of the City of Milwaukee 4(2):175-326.

# Species Author & Coordinator

*M. Kat Anderson*

USDA, NRCS, National Plant Data Center

c/o Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis,
California

Edited 05dec00 jsp; 21may03 ahv; 060802 jsp

For more information about this and other plants, please contact your
local NRCS field office or Conservation District, and visit the PLANTS
Web site\<[http://plants.usda.gov](http://plants.usda.gov/)\> or the
Plant Materials Program Web site
\<[http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov](http://Plant-Materials.nrcs.usda.gov/)\>

*The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in
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orientation, and marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases
apply to all programs.) Persons with disabilities who require
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large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact USDA\'s [TARGET
Center](http://www.usda.gov/oo/target.htm) at 202-720-2600 (voice and
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*To file a complaint of discrimination write USDA, Director, Office of
Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 14th and Independence
Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call 202-720-5964 (voice or
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*Read about [Civil Rights at the Natural Resources Convervation
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