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Lobelia chinensis
Also called Asian Lobelia
In Singapore: Creeping Lobelia, Chinese Lobelia, 半边莲 (Naturalised in Singapore)
Chinese lobelia is a small, creeping perennial herb from Asia, grown mainly for traditional medicine and as a ground cover in moist places. It thrives in damp, sunny to partly shaded spots with steady moisture.
Lobelia chinensis is a species of flowering plant in the family Campanulaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common names Asian lobelia, Chinese lobelia, and Herba Lobellae Chinensis. It is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it has the name (Chinese: 半边莲; pinyin: bàn biān lián).
Lobelia chinensis is considered mildly toxic due to its adverse effects, including vomiting, heartburn, anxiety, vibrating, eclampsia, increased heart-rate, and severe stomach aches.
It is native to Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Cardinalflower · Dortmann's cardinalflower · Edging lobelia · Indian-tobacco · Sierra Madre lobelia · Lobelia oligophylla · Lobelia polyphylla · Devil's Tobacco · Lobelias
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Lobelia chinensis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
