The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

tree tobacco

cultivated tobacco

Habit Herbs, perennial, or shrubs to small trees, soft-wooded, without basal rosette.
Stems

usually branched near base, occasionally with distinct trunk (branches drooping), 10–60(–100) dm, glabrous, somewhat glaucous.

single, usually unbranched, woody at base (hollow), 10–30 dm, viscid-pubescent.

Cauline leaves

petiole length 1/2 blade (not winged);

blade ovate to lanceolate, 5–25 cm, base acute or cordate, apex rounded, (rubbery), surfaces glabrous, glaucous.

sessile;

blade elliptic to lanceolate, 5–50 cm, becoming smaller distally, base tapering or decurrent, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces viscid-pubescent.

Inflorescences

branched, not leafy; flowering diurnal.

branched with distinct central axis (branches themselves branched and shorter than central axis), usually somewhat leafy; flowering diurnal.

Pedicels

0.3–1 cm.

(spreading), 0.5–1.5 cm.

Flowers

calyx green, (evenly cylindric), 1–1.5 cm, without membranous sinuses, glabrous or minutely pubescent, lobes sharply triangular, equal, much shorter than tube;

corolla straight, 2.5–4.5 cm (excluding limb), glabrous or finely pubescent externally, tube bright yellow to greenish yellow, (cylindric to clavate, slightly constricted apically), 0.5–0.8 cm × 3 mm, widening slightly to throat 1.5–4 cm × 6–8 mm, glabrous within, limb assurgent, greenish yellow or bright green (usually distinct color from tube in young flowers), turning yellow and same color as tube with age, circular or pentagonal, 0.6–0.8 cm diam., lobes rounded, broadly triangular, equal;

stamens inserted at base of throat, extending to corolla mouth;

filaments subequal 2.5–4.5 cm, (geniculate at base), glabrous;

style straight, exceeding stamens and exserted from corolla mouth.

calyx uniformly green, 1.2–2.5 cm, viscid-pubescent, lobes long-triangular, equaling or shorter than tube, unequal;

corolla straight or strongly curved in distal 1/2, 3–5 cm (excluding limb), viscid-puberulent externally, tube pale greenish cream to pink or red, slightly curved or straight, 0.7–1.5 cm × 2–2.5 mm, widening to throat 25–40 × 5 mm, somewhat dilated distally, glabrous or minutely puberulent internally, limb spreading to somewhat reflexed, pale pink to reddish pink, occasionally white, pentagonal, 2–3 cm diam., lobes pale pink to reddish pink, occasionally white, acute;

stamens inserted near base of throat;

filaments unequal, 4 slightly exserted, 3–5 cm, 1 included, 3 cm (shorter than the other 4), pubescent on proximal 1/2;

style straight or slightly curved, ± equaling longer stamens.

Fruiting calyces

not tearing along sinuses, covering mature capsule.

often tearing at sinuses (especially in cultivars), covering 1/2 mature capsule.

Capsules

ovoid, 0.7–1.5 cm.

narrowly ellipsoid, ovoid, or globose, 1.2–2 cm.

Seeds

0.5 mm.

0.5 mm.

Small

trees or shrubs.

2n

= 24.

= 48.

Nicotiana glauca

Nicotiana tabacum

Phenology Flowering year-round. Flowering year-round.
Habitat Open areas along roads, dis­turbed habitats, often in Mediterranean vegetation. Disturbed areas, field edges.
Elevation 0–2600 m. (0–8500 ft.) 0–1000 m. (0–3300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AZ; CA; FL; GA; MS; NM; NV; TX; South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile) [Introduced in North America; introduced also in Mexico, Europe (France, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey), sw Asia (Israel, Lebanon), Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; GA; KY; LA; MD; MI; MO; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV; ON; South America; cultivated nearly worldwide except Antarctica [Introduced in North America]
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Nicotiana glauca is registered as an invasive plant in the United States (www.invasives.org). It can form monodominant stands due to high seed set and germination success. It was originally introduced from Argentina to Mexico, thence to the United States and worldwide (T. H. Goodspeed 1954). Siphaulax glabra Rafinesque is an illegitimate, superfluous name for this species.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Nicotiana tabacum is the principal tobacco of commerce and was the mainstay of the economy of the Chesapeake Bay region during Colonial times. It replaced N. rustica as the main cultivated species in North America in the early 1600s. Most herbarium specimens of N. tabacum come from gardens or research greenhouses, but it occasionally escapes and is an ephemeral weed where the climate is mild. Commercial tobacco cultivars are grown for their large leaves, and flowers are removed to allow further growth of top leaves before harvest, but if marginal individuals are not harvested and are collected, they could be mistaken for naturalized weeds. Nicotiana tabacum is widely cultivated across North America.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 14. FNA vol. 14.
Parent taxa Solanaceae > Nicotiana Solanaceae > Nicotiana
Sibling taxa
N. acuminata, N. attenuata, N. clevelandii, N. longiflora, N. obtusifolia, N. plumbaginifolia, N. quadrivalvis, N. repanda, N. rustica, N. sylvestris, N. tabacum
N. acuminata, N. attenuata, N. clevelandii, N. glauca, N. longiflora, N. obtusifolia, N. plumbaginifolia, N. quadrivalvis, N. repanda, N. rustica, N. sylvestris
Synonyms N. angustifolia, N. fruticosa
Name authority Graham: Bot. Mag. 55: plate 2837. (1828) Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 180. (1753)
Web links