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Herb library · Herb · Lobelia inflata

Lobelia

A small wild plant of eastern North America, long called "Indian tobacco" and famous in the 1800s as a vomiting agent. Its alkaloid, lobeline, was sold to help people quit smoking; a large trial found it did not help.

Traditional use

King's American Dispensatory records that lobelia was known to the Penobscot and was widely used in New England home medicine before Samuel Thomson made it the center of his system in the early 1800s; it notes that the record of Native use is otherwise thin. Its folk names (puke weed, vomit weed, emetic herb, asthma weed) say how it was used: to make people vomit, and for asthma and spasms. It entered the U.S. Pharmacopoeia in 1820. Lobeline was later added to commercial stop-smoking products.

What studies show

  • Limited· shows no benefit

    Quitting smoking (lobeline): a 2012 Cochrane review found no trials with long-term follow-up. The one large trial, in 750 smokers using a lobeline tablet under the tongue, found no effect, and the review concludes the short-term evidence suggests no benefit.

  • Insufficient

    Asthma, cough and the other traditional uses: no trials in people were found in the sources read for this entry.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteLobeline's reported side effects include dizziness, nausea and vomiting, and lozenges or tablets may irritate the throat (Cochrane). No source read for this entry gives a safe dose of the herb itself.
  • ConditionA 2010 review for cardiologists lists lobelia among the herbal stimulants, the category of herbal products most often linked to effects on the heart and blood vessels. People with heart disease should not take it without their doctor.
  • PregnancyNo safety information for pregnancy or breastfeeding was found in the sources read; do not use it then.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“The first published account of the use of lobelia in regular medicine, is by the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL. D., in his "Account of Indigenous Vegetables" (1785), stating that the leaves, if chewed, "produce a giddiness and pain in the head, with a trembling agitation of the whole body."”
Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd, King's American Dispensatory (1905), vol. 2, p. 1201. See the page of King's American Dispensatory, vol. 2, p. 1201 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from King's American Dispensatory, vol. 2, p. 1201
“Lobelia, in the ordinary sense of the term, is not a poison. Undoubtedly, its injudicious use has, and might produce death, but the same is true of many other drugs that are not ordinarily considered as poisons.”
Harvey Wickes Felter and John Uri Lloyd, King's American Dispensatory (1905), vol. 2, p. 1202. See the page of King's American Dispensatory, vol. 2, p. 1202 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from King's American Dispensatory, vol. 2, p. 1202

Sources

  1. Lobeline for smoking cessation (Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2012) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Lobeline for smoking cessation (full text, PMC) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. A multicenter phase 3 trial of lobeline sulfate for smoking cessation (Am J Health Behav, 2010) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  4. Safety of herbal supplements: a guide for cardiologists (Cardiovasc Ther, 2010) (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.