Plant and seed - Specimen details

Plant and seed - Specimen details

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Catalogue Number: 52032

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Plant Name 91.01 CAMPANULACEAE Lobelia nicotianaefolia Entry Book Number
Artefact Name Plant and seed Vernacular Name
Iso Country India TDWG Region India
Parts Held Plant and seed Geography Description India
Uses Plant and seedUse: MEDICINES - Muscular-Skeletal System Disorders User: Man TDWG use MEDICINES - Muscular-Skeletal System Disorders
Storage Bottles, boxes etc Related Items
Donor Pharm Soc GB Donor No 18 E 7
Donor Date 00/00/1879 Donor Notes Dymock Drx0Dx0A
Collector Collector No
Collection Notes Collection Date
Exhibition Expedition
Number Components Publication
Notes: Label source: This gigantic Lobelia is common on the Ghats, the lower part of the stem is woody, an inch and a half or more in diam. and almost solid; the upper portion is a hollow tube ending in a crowded head of flower spikes; the latter are about a fo, ot in length, and when the plant is in fruit, are thickly set with globular capsules about the size of a pea, to which a portion of the dry flower is often adherent, the capsules are two celled, each cell containing a fleshy placenta. The seeds are numer, ous and very small 1/50th inch in length - oval, flattened and marked with delilcate lines. Several small tubercles surround the site of the placental attachment; the colour is light brown. The leaves resemble those of tobacco, they are finely serrated,, and covered with simple hairs. The whole plant when mature is studded with small spots of resinous exudation, and is hot and acrid when chewed. Six ounces of the dry spikes from which the seeds had fallen yielded half an ounce of dark brown resin when, treated with rectified spirit. The native name, Bokenul or tubular poison plant, would lead one to infer that the plant is poisonous, but I am not aware that this has ever been proved, It is said to be antispasmodic in the Pharm of India. Its acridity, being due to the resin it contains, a tincture would be an efficient preparation.

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