Devil's Tobacco

This large lobelia, the flowers of which are fiery red, is found in the wild in South America in the Andes and their foothills. It is cultivated throughout the world as an ornamental. The most common name for this conspicuous plant is tupa, which can be translated as "spot;' «point;' «sunspot" or even «mark of disgrace:' Many inhabitants of the Andes consider this campanulaceous plant to be toxic and avoid it. Since it is often called tabaco del diablo ("devil's tobacco"), it was once thought that it might have psychoactive or even hallucinogenic effects (Schultes and Hofmann 1992, 47*). However, there is no ethnographic evidence indicating that devil's tobacco is or ever was used ritually for psychoactive purposes. In Chile, Lobelia tupa and several other species are referred to as trupa, tupa, or tabaco del diablo (Lobelia excelsa Bonpl., Lobelia polyphylla H. et A.; cf. Mosbach 1992, 105*). The Mapuche use the name tupa to refer to a related species, Lobelia salicifolia Sweet, which they use as a medicinal plant to treat flu (they make a tea from the leaves). The latex is said to induce severe inflammation of the eye and of the digestive tract, together with vomiting and diarrhea (Houghton and Manby 1985, 100*). Lobelia tupa has been shown to contain piperidine alkaloids; these do not, however, have any unequivocal psychoactive effects. As with Lobelia inflata, the principal alkaloid in the leaves is a-lobeline (Kaczmarek and Steinegger 1958). Lobelamidine and norlobelamidine are also present (Kaczmarek and Steinegger 1958; Schultes and Farnsworth 1982, 177*). Smoking the dried leaves strongly stimulates the production of saliva and an immediate stimulation occurs that is similar to that produced by Lobelia inflata and Nicotiana tabacum. The white smoke is relatively easy to inhale and produces almost no irritation (cf. smoking blends).

Literature Kaczmarek, F., and E. Steinegger. 1958. Untersuchungen der Alkaloide von Lobelia tupa 1. Pharm. Helvetica Acta 33:257-62. ---.1959. Botanische Klassifizierung und Alkaloidvorkommen in der Gattung Lobelia. Pharm. Helvetica Acta 34:413-29.