62 ST NICOTINE 



strong, handsome, flowering perennial, growing in latitudes 

 varying from about 40° Fahr. to the tropics. And a most 

 voracious feeder, it quickly exhausts the richest soils, yet it 

 is so hardy that it will thrive in almost any soil and any- 

 where. In tropical lands, however, particularly such as are 

 light, dry, and rich in potash, it flourishes most luxuriantly, 

 and attains its fullest and healthiest development, some- 

 times rising to the grand altitude of 15 feet, though 6 feet 

 is the usual limit of its upward growth. The root is large, 

 long, and fibrous ; the stalk or central stem is erect, strong, 

 of the thickness of a man's wrist, and hairy ; towards the 

 top it divides into branches. The leaves embrace the stem 

 from the base ; they are large, symmetrical, lanceolated, 

 and of a pale-green colour, measuring usually 2 feet by 

 18 inches. From the summit of the branching stalks 

 clusters of rose-coloured flowers are produced of a bell- 

 shape, the segment of the corolla being tapering and 

 pointed ; the seeds are contained in long sharp -pointed 

 pods, and are so small that in one ounce no fewer than 

 100,000 have been counted. 



Next in order of importance in a commercial sense ranks 

 the Syrian plant, N. rustica. It is nevertheless a native of 

 America which transplantation into Syrian soil has greatly 

 improved in all those qualities which commend themselves 

 to delicate smokers. It differs from its sister plant of Vir- 

 ginia chiefly in its dwarf-like stature, for it seldom attains a 

 higher growth than three or four feet, and its leaves are not 

 so symmetrical ; they are of an ovate shape, and are not 

 attached to the centre stem, but issue from the branching 

 stalks, which in the season bear green flowers ; the segment 

 of the corolla is rounded. This, too, is a hardy plant, 

 flourishes well in almost any latitude, and ripens earlier 

 than the N. Tahacum. For some years back it has been 



