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Pukeweed in the Garden

© Gregg Pasterick

I wouldn’t say wildflowers are notorious for turning up in the garden, but some do find their way into our cultivated beds. Of course there are hybrids available at nurseries, watered down and tampered with versions of native species, which we’ve all added to the garden for their color, or hardiness, or just because. But occasionally something springs up unexpectedly, adding a slightly wild feel to our carefully scripted color schemes.

And then there are those wildflowers, so naturally beautiful, we desire them as is. Pukeweed and its kin, for example.

Pukeweed (Lobelia inflata) is not the showiest dog in the kennel, but it comes from good stock. Commonly known as Indian Tobacco, it is a member of the Bluebell (Campanulaceae) Family. It includes among its relatives Great Lobelia (L. siphilitica), Cardinal Flower (L. cardinalis), Harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), and Venus’s Looking-glass (Specularia perfoliata). All have lovely flowers, usually blue to purple in color, though Cardinal Flower, as its name suggests, has vivid scarlet blossoms much beloved by wildflower buffs and gardeners alike. And many of these flowers are grown as ornamentals.

Not as bold as Cardinal Flower or Great Lobelia, Indian Tobacco is unmistakably a member of the family. Its lavender to violet-blue flowers are small - 1/4” long - but like its more popular cousins, they are bilaterally symmetrical with two lips, the lower lip having three distinct lobes. Like Tall Bellflower (C. americana), it is a deceptively plain-looking weed before it blossoms, something a gardener will yank out of the ground unless he or she knows better. Over the years I adopted a wait-and-see attitude in the yard and was eventually rewarded with these and Creeping Bellflower (C. rapunculoides), a non-native species.

Indian Tobacco has a history in folk medicine that should not be taken lightly. It’s called Pukeweed for a reason, and all parts of the plant contain toxins. As little as 50 milligrams of the dried herb, or a single milliliter of a tincture can be fatal. This is one wildflower better left in the ground, and the folk medicine left to the history books.

Native Americans, who found uses for many lobelia species, used Indian Tobacco to treat dysentery and relieve asthma. The Shoshone made a tea of lobelia that was used as an emetic. The Creeks used it to ward off ghosts, and the Meskwakis considered lobelias to be magical, particularly when used in love potions. It was even believed that throwing powdered lobelia at a storm would halt its approach.