AddisoniA 5 



(Plate 227) 



NICOTIANA FORGETIANA 



Forget's Nicotiana 



Native of southern Brazil 

 Family Solanaceae Potato Family 



Nicotiana Forgetiana Sander; Hemsl. Bot. Mag. pi. 8006. 1905. 



This species is one of unusual interest in that it has been intro- 

 duced but once from a locality not definitely known, and has been 

 lost as a pure species, but is represented in cultivation by a mixed 

 hybrid progeny from which, after 20 years, strains apparently typi- 

 cal for the species may still be obtained by selection and inbreeding. 



Seeds of Nicotiana Forgetiana were collected about 1901 somewhere 

 in southern Brazil by Louis Forget, a collector for Sander and Sons, 

 the well-known English firm of nurserymen and growers of orchids. 

 A few years later (1905) a description of the species with a colored 

 plate was published in Curtis' s Botanical Magazine from materials 

 supplied by Messrs. Sander. The species was, however, not kept in 

 cultivation as a pure species. It was hybridized with species having 

 less brilliantly colored flowers, particularly N. alata (N. affinis). 

 From the point of view of floriculture, the brilliancy of the flowers 

 of N. Forgetiana was overshadowed by the diversity as well as 

 brilliancy in the flowers of the resulting hybrids and these were 

 introduced into the trade under the name Nicotiana Sanderae. 



The story of the loss of the species and the character of the hy- 

 brids is given in a letter dated December 13, 1917, from Sanders to 

 the writer as follows: "We never sold any of the original stock. 

 We simply kept them for hybridizing purposes, afterwards selling 

 the entire lot together with the seed. We had previously secured a 

 batch of really fine new crosses with N. affinis, etc., resulting in a 

 lovely set. When these plants were in full bloom in all the shades 

 of rose, purple, white, pink and crimson the effect was magnificent. 

 We did not continue with the growing of the Nicotianas but sold 

 our stock. We regret very much having lost this remarkable 

 species. We regret that we do not know the locality in South 

 Brazil where Forget discovered his Nicotiana, and he is dead." 



Today the seed of N. Sanderae, or as listed in some catalogs " N. 

 affinis hybrids," will give plants with a pleasing variety of flower 

 color including purple, dark red, light red, salmon, crimson, violet, 



