9. NicoTiANA.] 97. SOLANACEJE. 



9. NICOTIANA, L. 



Erect, viscidly-pubescent herbs, rarely undershrubs, with entire or 

 sinuate leaves. Flowers in cymose racemes or panicles, regular or 

 somewhat zygomorphous. Calyx tubular or campanulate, 5-lobed. 

 Corolla with long tube sometimes funnel-shaped above, and usually 

 spreading 5-lobed limb. Stamens inserted low in the tube, visually 

 one shorter than the others. Ovary 2-4-celled. Fruit a septicidal 

 capsule, 2-valved, seldom 4-valved, valves 2-toothed or 2-fid. Seeds 

 numerous small, scarcely compressed, embryo nearly straight in 

 albumen. Natives of tropical America. 



("orolla-tuhe narrow below, ventricose above, rosy . . . l.tuhaciim. 

 Corolla-tube campanulate, yellowish, lobes obtuse . . .2. rustica. 

 C'oroHa-tube linear, lobes acute, white or greenish-white . . 3. plumhaginifolia. 

 Corolla-tube linear, slightly swollen above, lobes obtuse white 4. alafa. 

 Other species are sometimes found in gardens. 



1. N. tabacum, L* Tamaku, H. ; Sukul, K. ; Tambali, Mai. P. 



An erect glandular-pubescent herb with terete stem, large oblong- 

 lanceolate acuminate sessile leaves, the lower semiamplexicaul and 

 decurrent, and rosy or reddish pedicelled bracteate flowers 1-6-2" 

 long in many-fld., usually panicled racemes. Calj-x •4-'5" oblong with 

 lanceolate very acute unequal lobes. Corolla about "7" diam. with an 

 inflated throat and acute spreading lobes, outside lanuginous. 

 Capsule •6-"7", a little longer than the calyx, which is slightly 

 accrescent. 



Grown in all districts, usually in small highly cultivated plots of land close to 

 the owners' houses, but more widely in the northern area, especially north of the 

 Ganges, which has been said to be one ;of the most important tobacco areas in 

 India. There is (or was) a tobacco farm at Pusa, 



Howard {loc cif.) says that the seeds are brown and retain their vitality even 

 under adverse conditions for several years. 



2. N. rustica, L. Bilaiti Tamaku, Kalkatiya Tamaku, Vern. ; Yellow- 



flowered Tobacco ; English Tobacco. 

 Stem terete more or less branched from the base, leaves petioled 

 broadly ovate obtuse, sometimes subcordate quite entire glandular,, 

 flowers greenish -yellow -T-'S" long, bracteate or ebracteate pedicelled, 

 in terminal subpaniculate racemes. Calyx "3" cupular with very 

 short triangular obtuse (long acute in one variety) lobes. Corolla 

 tube broadly-tubular or subcampanulate "5" diam., pubescent- 

 villovTs, twice as long as the calyx, limb "5" diam., glabrous with 

 rounded or obtuse lobes. Capsule "o" subglobose obtuse, slightly 

 exserted from the calyx. 



Cultivated chiefly in Tirhut and Purneah but I have no exact notes of its distri- 

 bution. Like the other it is grown in the cold season and the leaves removed or 

 the plants cut about March. Tn Purneah it is said to be supplanting tabacum,. 

 being hardier and more quickly coming to maturity. 



3. N. plumbaginifolia, Viv. 



About 2 ft. high somewhat scabridly hairy, with spreading radical 

 leaves and slender leafy stems. Leaves sessile entire, lower obovate- 



* For an account of cultivated varieties see Hortard, Studies in Indian Tobacco* 

 {Memoirs of the Dept, of Agriculture,. 



GIG 



