Lobelia chinensis. L. radicans  半 遍 莲  Bàn biàn lián   Rooting lobelia    Family: Campanulaceae     
PART USED: Whole plant- harvested in Summer
Nature: Neutral   FLAVOR: Slightly acrid, pungent, sweet  CHANNELS: Heart, Lung, Small intestine
FUNCTIONS
GROUP: Diuretic
1. Promotes urination and reduces edema.[3]
2. Clears fever and detoxifies.[1,2] Cools the Blood and reduces toxicity.[3]
3. Resolves bruises.[1] Heal swelling.[2]
INDICATIONS
1. Edema and ascites.[1,3] Schistosomiasis ascites at later stage.[2,3] Cirrhosis ascites.[2] Jaundice.[4]
2. Sores and abscesses, tooth  abscesses.[1] Carbuncle.[2] Fire toxin patterns such as tonsillitis.[3]
3. Traumatic injuries.[1]
4.  Poisonous snake bite,[1,2,3] where respiratory depression in involved,[4] and wasp stings-[3] used internally or applied topically.[3]
CONTRAINDICATIONS: Deficiency conditions.[3]
COMBINATIONS
PREPARATIONS: Decoction. Whole plant 30-60 g for each dose. Or fresh plant may be crushed for use as poultice. Or boiled down to concentrate for external application.[1] Whole plant 9-15 g.[2] 15-30 g.[3]Good quality has green leaves and a yellow root.
SUSMP6 S2: LOBELINE except in preparations for smoking or burning- Australian Chinese Medicine Board.

HABITAT: Grows wild in damp places along paddy field edges and stream banks.
DESCRIPTION: Perennial vine like herb. Roots; fine and rounded, light yellow. Stem; slender, purplish in creeping section, roots appearing at nodes. Leaves; alternate, linear or narrow-lanceolate, front ends shallowly dentate, posterior ends intact. Flowers; in summer, single light red or purplish axillary flower , open on one side, like half of Lotus flower. Fruit; a capsule.
References
Inner Path can not take any responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Always seek advice from a professional before using a plant medicinally.
Constituents
Research

When are Fu Zi And Ma Huang going to become available in Austalia? Feb 22, 2013
Two of the herbs proposed by the former Chinese Medicine Registration Board of Victoria to be added to Schedule 1 of the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) remain unavailable to registered Chinese herbal medicine practitioners with additional endorsement for prescribing these herbs individually.
The SUSMP, referred to as “The Poisons Standard”, has a Schedule 1 which is empty. Under the Victorian Poisons List (Schedules 2-9 are adopted automatically by reference from the national Standard for Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons), it is currently illegal for a Chinese herbal medicine practitioner or herbal dispenser to ‘obtain, possess, use, sell or supply’ certain Chinese herbs listed in the various schedules of the list. Similar restrictions apply in other states and territories.
The former Chinese Medicine Registration Board Victoria (ended on 30 June 2012) prepared a submission for the Victorian Minister for Health recommending the inclusion of Fu Zi and Ma Huang (as well as Ban bian lian) in Schedule 1 of the Victorian Poisons List so that Board-endorsed practitioners could safely dispense/prescribe for patients who would benefit from the use of these herbs based on their professional justification and an evidence-based approach. Until now, the herbs have failed to receive the Ministerial approval in Victoria which may have been a basis for other States to consider similar arrangements.
With national registration now commenced from July 2012, this is now a national issue and a new strategy is needed to achieve access to those herbs for Chinese herbal medicine practitioners in Australia. safflower.com.au

Anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of Lobelia chinensis in vitro and in vivo.
Li KC, Ho YL, Huang GJ, Chang YS.
Abstract
Lobelia chinensis Lour (LcL) is a popular herb that has been widely used as folk medicine in China for the treatment of fever, lung cancer, and inflammation for hundreds of years. Recently, several studies have shown that the anti-inflammatory properties were correlated with the inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) from the NF-κB pathway. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of L. chinensis. Both suppressive activities on LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW264.7 macrophages in vitro and the acute rat lung injury model in vivo were studied. The results showed that the methanol extract of LcL and its fractions within the range of 62.5-250 μg/mL did not induce cytotoxicity (p < 0.001). The ethyl acetate fraction of LcL showed better NO inhibition activity than other fractions. On the other hand, the Lc-EA (62.5, 125, 250 mg/kg) pretreated rats showed a decrease in the pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-β, IL-6) and inhibited iNOS, COX-2 expression through the NF-κB pathway. These results suggested that L. chinensis exhibited an anti-inflammatory effect through the NF-κB pathways.
PMID: 25787301 DOI: 10.1142/S0192415X15500184 Am J Chin Med. 2015;43(2):269-87. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X15500184. Epub 2015 Mar 19. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Chemical constituents from Lobelia chinensis and their anti-virus and anti-inflammatory bioactivities.
Kuo PC, Hwang TL, Lin YT, Kuo YC, Leu YL.
Abstract
In total, forty six compounds, including the novel compound lobechine (1), were characterized from the methanol extracts of Lobelia chinensis. The chemical structures of known metabolites were identified by comparing their spectroscopic and physical data with compounds reported in the literature. The structure of lobechine (1) was comprehensively established with the aid of 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic analyses. In addition, selected isolates were screened for their inhibition of HSV-1 replication, superoxide anion generation, and elastase release. Among the tested compounds, scoparone (10) exhibited significant inhibition of superoxide anion generation with IC(50) of 6.14 ± 1.97 μM and lobechine (1) exhibited moderate inhibition of elastase release with IC(50) of 25.01 ± 6.95 μM, respectively.
PMID: 21656355 DOI: 10.1007/s12272-011-0503-7
Arch Pharm Res. 2011 May;34(5):715-22. doi: 10.1007/s12272-011-0503-7. Epub 2011 Jun 9. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov