lobelia

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: lo=bel=ia

CIDE DICTIONARY

lobelia, n. [NL. So called from Lobel, botanist to King James I.].

 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.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

lobelia, n. any plant of the genus Lobelia, with blue, scarlet, white, or purple flowers having a deeply cleft corolla.

Etymology

M. de Lobel, Flemish botanist in England d. 1616