148 



NICOTIANEiE. 



[part I. 



bud ; but they are distinguished by having all 

 capsular fruit : that is, in all the plants 

 belonging to this tribe, the seed-vessel is dry 

 and hard when ripe, and not soft and pulpy 

 like a berry. The species have nearly all 

 funnel-shaped flowers, with a long tube and a 

 spreading limb ; the tube is generally very 

 long in proportion to the limb, and it is often 

 inflated, so as to appear much wider in the 

 upper part than near the calyx. 



The Virginian Tobacco {Nicotiana tahacuni) is 

 an example of an inflated tube to the corolla 

 (seeji^. 70, «); the limb 

 is small and divided 

 into five pointed seg- 

 ments; and the cap- 

 sule (b). which opens 

 at the point into four 

 valves when ripe, con- 

 tains numerous seeds. 

 The whole plant is 

 covered with a clammy 

 down, particularly the 

 leaves, which are large 

 and flabby, and which have their footstalks 

 dilated at the base, so as partly to enfold the 

 stem. There are many species of Nicotiana, 

 some of which are very ornamental. It is the 

 dried leaves that are used as tobacco, or ground 

 into snufi: 



Fig. 70. — Virginian Tobacco. 



