VLVL2 (9): Lobelia

[Tim Strzechowski]

135.19  "Lobelia"

"Some of these girls, the market being what it was, were boys, of whom DL's friend Lobelia was among the most glamorous."

Just as the novel opens with foliage in the window, so does the organic motif continue here:
Botanical: Lobelia inflata (LINN.) 
Family: N.O. Lobeliaceae
  a.. Description 
  b.. Constituents 
  c.. Medicinal Action and Uses 
  d.. Poisonous, if any, with Antidotes 
  e.. Other Species 
  f.. Steadman Shorter's Medical Dictionary, 1942, Poisons & Antidotes: Lobela

"The herb is named after the botanist Matthias de Lobel, a native of Lille, who died in London in 1616. It is an erect annual or biennial herb, 1 to 2 feet high; lower leaves and also flower are stalked, the latter being pale violet-blue in colour, tinted pale yellow within. Commercially, it is usually prepared in compressed, oblong packages, by the Shakers of New Lebanon for importation into England. The colour is a yellowish green, the odour irritating, the taste, after chewing, very like that of tobacco, burning and acrid, causing a flow of saliva. The powder has a greenish colour, but that of the seeds is brown, and stains paper with grease." [...]

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/l/lobeli38.html

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