Devil's tobacco Lobelia tupa

Detailed Listing For
Botanical Name:

Lobelia tupa

Family:

Campanulaceae

Genus:

Lobelia

Species:

tupa

Common Name:

Devil's tobacco

Seeds Per Pound:
4,454,000
Quantity:
0.00187 lb
Average Viable Seeds/Packet:
93
Germination:
40%
Germination Test Type:
estimate
Purity:
95%
Height:
18-24 inches
Collection Locale:
Virginia
Crop Year:
2022
Minimum Hardiness Zone:
4
In Stock: 0.85 g (grams)
Prices
Items are priced on a curve, you can buy any 'bulk quantity' up to what we have in stock, some examples are:
1 packet (~ 93 seeds)
$6.95
0.2 gram (~ 1964 seeds)
$23.43
0.5 gram (~ 4910 seeds)
$51.96
Growing Info, follow in order:
Scarification: none required.
Stratification: none required.
Germination: requires light for germination, surface sow and keep moist.

Lobelia tupa is a species of Lobelia native to central Chile from Valparaíso south to Los Lagos regions.

Lobelia tupa is an evergreen perennial plant which grows up to 4 m tall and thrives in dry soils.The foliage is grey-green, with felty elliptical leaves 10–15 cm long. The flowers are red, tubular and 2-lipped and are produced in a sympodium pattern.

The plant has numerous ethnobotanical uses due to its pharmaceutically active alkaloids. The latex is used as an abortifacient, and the large, felty leaves are smoked as a narcotic with possible hallucinogenic effects - whence one of its common names, Tabaco del Diablo (Devil's tobacco). Ironically, this plant has been used to treat nicotine addiction because it contains the nicotine-related alkaloid Lobeline (a mixed agonist–antagonist at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors).

The Mapuche of Southern Chile consider it a sacred plant. Tupa leaves have also been found to contain chemicals that act as a respiratory stimulant.

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