18 BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. 



greater extent than most plants. It is a native of America, 

 the discovery of the continent and the plant occurring almost 

 simultaneously. It succeeds best in a deep rich loam in a 

 climate ranging from forty to fifty degrees of latitude. After 

 having been introduced and cultivated in nearly all parts of 

 the world, America enjoys the reputation of growing the 

 finest varieties known to commerce. European tobacco is 

 lacking in flavor and is less powerful than the tobacco of 

 America. 



The botanical account of tobacco is as follows : 



" Nicotiana, the tobacco plant is a genus of plants of the 

 order of Monogynia, belonging to the pentandria class, order 

 1, of class Y. It bears a tubular 5-cleft calyx ; a funnel- 

 formed corolla, with a plaited 5-cleft border ; the stamina 

 inclined ; the stigma capitate; the capsule 2-celled, and 2 to 

 4 valved." 



A more general description of the plant is given by an 

 American writer: 



" The tobacco plant is an annual growing from eighteen 

 inches (dwarf tobacco) to seven or eight feet in height*. It 

 bears numerous leaves of a pale green color sessile, ovate 

 lanceolate and pointed in form, which come out alternately 

 from two to three inches apart. The flowers grow in loose 

 panicles at the extremity of the stalks, and the calyx is bell- 

 shaped, and divided at its summit into five pointed segments. 

 The tube of the corolla expands at the top into an oblong 

 cup terminating in a 5-lobed plaited rose-colored border. 

 The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender style longer 

 than the stamen, and a cleft stigma. The flowers are suc- 

 ceeded by capsules of 2 cells opening at the summit and 

 containing numerous kidney-shaped seeds." 



Two of the finest varieties of Nicotiana Tobacnm that are 

 cultivated are the Oronoco and the Sweet Scented ; they differ 

 only in the form of the leaves, those of the latter variety being 

 shorter and broader than the other. They are annual herba- 

 ceous plants, rising with strong erect sterns to the height of 

 from six to nine feet, with fine handsome foliage. The stalk 

 near the root is often an inch or more in diameter, and 



* An old English writer In describing tobacco Bays : When at its just height, it is as tall 

 as an ordinary sized man." 



