Ferns and Flowering Plants. 



141 



Nicotiana nana Lindl. (Tol^acco.) 



" N.VV. America. A. Menzies, Esq. (Herb, nostr.). 

 Originally discovered by the excellent Menzies." 

 Hook., I.e. 



Professor C. V. Piper, of Washington, D.C., informs 

 the editor that the " Nicotiana nana " referred to above 

 is now known as Hesperocheiron nanus or Capnorea 

 nana and that it came from the Rocky Mountains. 

 He adds that he doubts very much if Menzies ever got 

 it on the North-west coast, as it has never yet been 

 found west of the Cascade mountains. 

 Vancouver, Voyage, HI., 256, gives Whidbey's account 

 of " square patches of ground, in a state of cultivation, 

 producing a plant that appeared to be a species of 

 tobacco : and which, we understood is by no means 

 uncommon amongst the inhabitants of Queen Charlotte 

 Islands, who cultivate much of this plant." 

 Vancouver here derived his knowledge from Menzies 

 and Johnstone, both of whim visited the Queen Char- 

 lotte Islands with Colnett in 1787, when the latter made 

 a plan of Rose's Harbour, which was published by 

 Dalrymple in October, 1789. The former also made 

 some botanical collections in these islands. 

 Hoskins an American, in 1791, writing of Rose's Har- 

 bour under the name of Barrell's Sound, says that he 

 went ashore with Captain Gray (of the Columbia), and 

 at the head of the sound they found a meadow containing 

 some tobacco plants, wild celery, etc. In a later passage 

 Hoskins states that the men here " chew tobacco in a 

 green state with which they mix a substance resembling 

 lime. They put quids of this plant into their mouths 

 as big as a hen's tgg.'' (Hoskins, Narr. of a Voyage to 

 the N.W. coast of America, 1791-2. ]\IS. pp. 52 

 and 59. 



Captain Ingraham, too (Journ. of the Brigantine Hope, 

 MS. transcript, p. 125), says: "The natives chew a plant 

 (as many among us do) which may, perhaps, be worthy 

 of attention. It appeared to me to possess some of the 

 properties of tobacco. ... I have procured a good 

 quantity of the seed and shall send them home for inves- 

 tigation, etc." Captain Dixon (1787) speaks of the 

 11 



Fl. II., 91. 



