154 IIISTOKICAL NOTES ON 



covei'ed, and is there so widely spread, that it is difficult to come 

 to any conclusion as to what precise part of that vast continent is 

 its native country ; probably some portion of the Mexican empire. 

 As to the precise dates of its introduction into Europe it has 

 been already stated that it followed closely upon the discovery of 

 America. The Spaniards under Columbus had scarcely lauded 

 in Cuba in 1492 when they began to smoke cigars ; but they 

 could only fully appreciate its luxuries when, in 1518, Fernando 

 Cortez occupied the island of Tobago, where the plant was found 

 growing in great abundance. Hernandez, the naturalist, was, it 

 is beheved, the first who brought it into Spain from Mexico, in 

 1539. It was introduced into Portugal from Florida by one 

 Flamingo, and into France by Father Andre Thevet, or by some 

 friend of his, although the more common opinion is that the first 

 seeds received there were those sent about the year 1560 to 

 Queen Catharine of Medicis by Jean Nicot, French ambassador 

 in Portugal. It was probably raised also in England a few years 

 later, but received no notice till its well known introduction by 

 Sir Francis Drake from Virginia in 1586. In Tuscany it was 

 first cultivated under Cosmo dei Medici, who died in 1574, 

 having been originally raised by Bishop Alfonso Tornabuoni from 

 seeds received from his nephew Monsignor Nicolo Tornabuoni, 

 then ambassador at Paris, a great amateur of plants. After him 

 it long bore the name of Erha ToriKtbuoni. 



A second but smaller and coarser species, Nicotiana rustica, 

 much grown in some parts of South-eastern Europe, is generally 

 said to be a native of Europe and Asia, but this is a mistake ; 

 like the N. tabacum it is of American origin. So also is the long 

 white-flowered Shiraz tobacco, recently published under the name 

 of Nicotiana persica, but which is a mere variety of the N. 

 longiflora, a species not uncommon in South America, and intro- 

 duced from thence like the others since Columbus' discovery. 



Amongst the Cassias supplying the Senna leaves of our 

 Pharmacopoeias, the annual species (Cassia obovata), introduced 

 most probably by the Moors during their dominion in Sicily, 

 from Egypt and Arabia, was much cultivated in Italy, especially 

 in Tuscany, during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It 

 is now totally neglected, nor would it be profitable except in the 

 Maremma, where its cultivation is strongly recommended by 

 Prof. Targioni. 



The Castor-oil j^i^oit, or Pahna-Cliristi (Pticinus communis), 

 was known to the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, and Greeks, as 



