Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana repanda
cultivated tobacco
fiddleleaf tobacco, wild tobacco
single, usually unbranched, woody at base (hollow), 10–30 dm, viscid-pubescent.
loosely branched, 5–15 dm, rough with minute tubercules.
sessile;
blade elliptic to lanceolate, 5–50 cm, becoming smaller distally, base tapering or decurrent, apex acute to acuminate, surfaces viscid-pubescent.
sessile;
blade pandurate, becoming smaller distally, distal leaves oblong-ovate or pandurate, 1–5 cm, base clasping, apex acute, surfaces softly viscid-pubescent.
branched with distinct central axis (branches themselves branched and shorter than central axis), usually somewhat leafy; flowering diurnal.
long, flexuous false racemes, occasionally with shorter lateral branches, not leafy; flowering crepuscular.
(spreading), 0.5–1.5 cm.
0.3–0.7 cm.
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, 1.5 cm, minutely hispid, tube globose, strongly 10-ribbed, lobes erect, linear, length equaling tube, subequal, viscid-pubescent;
corolla white, straight, 4–6 cm (excluding limb), sparsely pubescent or glabrous at base, tube white, straight, 3–5.5 cm × 1 mm, gradually widening to gaping throat 5–6 × 3 mm, cobwebby-pubescent internally, limb spreading or (in daytime) slightly assurgent, white, pentagonal, 2–2.4 cm diam., lobes acute apically;
stamens inserted at base of throat, included;
filaments equal (fused to corolla tube for their entire length, anthers appearing sessile), glabrous;
style straight, equaling stamens.
often tearing at sinuses (especially in cultivars), covering 1/2 mature capsule.
not tearing at sinuses, covering entire capsule.
narrowly ellipsoid, ovoid, or globose, 1.2–2 cm.
ovoid, 1 cm.
0.5 mm.
0.6 mm.
leaves: petiole short and winged or leaves sessile;
blade spatulate to oblong-ovate, 10–15 cm, surfaces softly viscid-pubescent.
= 48.
= 48.
Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana repanda
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 repanda occurs along the Gulf Coast and in Texas in southern, central, and the eastern edge of west Texas, in adjacent Mexico, and on the island of Cuba. It overlaps in distribution with N. plumbaginifolia but is easy to distinguish from that species by its pandurate (fiddle-shaped) cauline leaves and longer, thinner flowers.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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