Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous plants of the genus Lobelia, having terminal racemes of variously colored flowers with a bilabiate corolla.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of gamopetalous plants, the type of the natural order Lobeliaceæ, distinguished by having the corolla-tube split down almost to the base, without a spur, and with a capsule which is two-valved at the summit.
  • noun [lowercase] A plant of this genus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A genus of plants, including a great number of species. Lobelia inflata, or Indian tobacco, is an annual plant of North America, whose leaves contain a poisonous white viscid juice, of an acrid taste. It has often been used in medicine as an emetic, expectorant, etc. Lobelia cardinalis is the cardinal flower, remarkable for the deep and vivid red color of its flowers.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A member of the genus Lobelia, flowering plants in the Lobeliaceae family containing many species, some of which are garden plants.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any plant or flower of the genus Lobelia

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin Lobelia, genus name, after Matthias de Lobel, (1538–1616), Flemish botanist and physician.]

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Examples

  • For spasmodic coughs and whooping coughs, thyme is very effective as well, but it can be enhanced by giving five drops of tincture of lobelia, which is a powerful antipasmodic.

    THE NATURAL REMEDY BIBLE JOHN LUST 2003

  • It works especially well for flowers with thin, delicate petals, such as lobelia, heather, campanula, and many herbs.

    Drying Flowers from Your Garden 2008

  • Very small seeds, such as lobelia and musk, should not be covered by earth, but a sheet of glass over the box is beneficial, as it keeps the moisture from evaporating too quickly.

    Gardening for the Million Alfred Pink

  • I especially love white geraniums and have just potted up some with some blue lobelia as I love that Mediterranean colour combination.

    vivace - French Word-A-Day 2010

  • Also potted a pink peony (my favourite flower as I recall I told you about) also with some blue lobelia.

    vivace - French Word-A-Day 2010

  • Beautifully constructed two years ago by the Dutch, it winds up from Kobo where it's sweaty-hot, to a pass where giant lobelia grow in profusion and an icy wind sweeps through the thin clothing of the shivering passengers on the truck.

    Time travellers 2011

  • Jillie leads me through an opening in the brush, a path lined with white knotweed and purple morning glories that opens up, just beyond the briers of blackberry vines that have long been picked clean by quail and finches, into a meadow lighted with goldenrod and sunlight against the rusty tops of tall grasses, striving against the subtle blues of the lobelia and the aggressive reds of jack-in-the-pulpits.

    Taxonomies Jason Lee Miller 2011

  • In smaller containers, I like to mix it up with a few things—lavender with annual lobelia and Agapanthus or Gaura 'Whirling Butterflies' with Origanum and Salvia patens.

    Garden Guru Piet Oudolf 2011

  • Scads of petunias, lobelia, fancy begonias and geraniums, sweet potato vines, even a bromeliad.

    Garden Goddess for Hire 2010

  • I'm planting annuals, salvia, petunias, lobelia, and dusty miller, in a long built-in planter at the top of a ten-foot-high brick wall on the side of a long driveway.

    Garden Goddess for Hire 2010

Comments

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  • Also the name of Bilbo Baggins' cousin from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. One of the greedy Sackwater-Bagginses.

    February 24, 2008

  • Citation on willowherb.

    June 22, 2008