Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana quadrivalvis
cultivated tobacco
Bigelow's tobacco, four-valved tobacco, Indian or Bigelow's or Wallace's tobacco, Indian tobacco, wild tobacco
single, usually unbranched, woody at base (hollow), 10–30 dm, viscid-pubescent.
single or with multiple robust branches, 3–20 dm, moist, patent, viscid-pubescent.
sessile;
blade elliptic to lanceolate, 5–50 cm, becoming smaller distally, base tapering or decurrent, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces viscid-pubescent.
sessile or short-petiolate, congested toward inflorescence;
blade ovate to lanceolate, 1–4 cm, gradually decreasing in size and narrower distally, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces coarsely viscid-pubescent.
branched with distinct central axis (branches themselves branched and shorter than central axis), usually somewhat leafy; flowering diurnal.
unbranched or few-branched, leafy to bracteate; flowering crepuscular.
(spreading), 0.5–1.5 cm.
0.4–1 cm (longer in fruit).
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.
calyx green, elliptic, 10-ridged (or more in fasciated plants), 0.9–3.5 cm, densely viscid-pubescent, (trichomes occasionally with swollen bases), lobes linear, ± equal, length equaling or sometimes exceeding tube, sinus membranes long, transparent;
corolla straight, 2–5 cm (excluding limb), minutely viscid-pubescent externally, tube and throat not well differentiated, white or ivory, or tinged purple externally and oily-glossy, broadly trumpet-shaped, tubular portion from 2 mm diam. at base to 7 mm diam. at mouth (much wider in fasciated varieties), glabrous or minutely puberulent internally, limb spreading, cream to white flushed with grayish purple (externally), stellate to pentagonal, 2–5 cm diam., lobes broadly triangular, acute;
stamens unequal, 4 inserted just below mouth, exserted, 1 inserted ca. 1 cm deeper in throat, included;
filaments ± equal, 0.3–1 cm, glabrous;
style straight, just exceeding stamens.
often tearing at sinuses (especially in cultivars), covering 1/2 mature capsule.
not tearing at sinuses, completely enclosing capsule.
narrowly ellipsoid, ovoid, or globose, 1.2–2 cm.
narrowly ovoid, 1–2.5 cm.
0.5 mm.
0.9 mm.
leaves: petiole length to 1/2 blade;
blade elliptic to narrowly ovate, 1–1.5 cm, surfaces usually viscid-pubescent abaxially, glabrous adaxially.
= 48.
= 48.
Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana quadrivalvis
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.)
Nicotiana quadrivalvis was widely cultivated by western Native American peoples, and prior to European expansion to the west, was grown from Haida Gwaii in British Columbia across the Great Plains to North Dakota and Missouri. The tobacco collected by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in North Dakota was N. quadrivalvis; however, recent collections from this area are only from cultivated plants (for example, Reveal 8376, NY). Plants derived from cultivated forms often have supernumerary flower parts (fasciation) and flowers with more than five petals. These forms are most often collected from northern California northwards; the first collection of this type was made along the Columbia River in Oregon by David Douglas.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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