VLVL2 (9): Lobelia

[Mark Wright AIA]

Howdy
Isn't "Lobelia" a *fabulous* name for a glam, if alas fictional, drag
hustler?  Recommended viewing --- the sad and mesmerizing movie "Paris
Is Burning".

Mark

--- Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net> wrote:
> 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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