ABSTRACT
Smoking the dried leaves of Lobelia is a traditional Native American remedy for respiratory ailments. Lobelia inflata can grow in part shade and prefers dry situations such as roadsides and waste ground. The structure of lobeline was first described in 1925. Its pharmacological effects are complex but generally similar to those of nicotine, although it is structurally dissimilar. Cytisine is an alkaloid that occurs naturally in several plant genera and is obtained from the seeds of Laburnum anagyroides. During the Second World War it was smoked by both German and Russian troops as a tobacco substitute; in the 1960s it was marketed in Eastern Europe as a smoking cessation aid. Reported side effects of cytisine at therapeutic doses include dry mouth, nausea, dyspepsia and intestinal cramps. In overdosage it can interfere with breathing and eventually lead to convulsions and death due to respiratory failure.
