Common Name: Scarlet Lobeilia

Scientific Name: Lobelia cardinalis

Family: Campanulaceae (Bellflower family)

Origins: North America (native)

Flowering Time: July to September

Habitat: Damp sites, especially along streams.

Range: Found from Ontario east to New Brunswick and south into the states.

Use:  First Nations people have used this plant to make “schumaakwe cakes” to externally treat rheumatism and swelling. The leaves were also dried and smoked or chewed. A tea made from the roots treated stomach aches, syphilis, typhoid and worms. Teas made from the leaves were used for colds, croup, nosebleeds, fevers, and headaches. This plant is considered poisonous if eaten in large quantities.

Sources:

Guédon, Marie-Françoise. Sacred Smudging in North America, Walkabout Press 2000

Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center – The University of Texas at Austin. (2017, April 6). Retrieved from https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=loca2

Niering, William A., Nancy C. Olmstead, and John W. Thieret. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Eastern Region. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Print.

Stevenson, Matilda Coxe 1915 Ethnobotany of the Zuni Indians. SI-BAE Annual Report #30 (p. 56)