4G2 



SOLANACE*. XV. JABOROSA. XVI. NICOTIANA. 



leaves. Corolla hardly an inch long ; segments of the limb 

 spreading or reflexed. The specimens collected by Dr. Gillies 

 have no stem ; while the plant figured by Link and Otto has a 

 stem 4-5 inches long, from which both the leaves and flowers 

 have their origin ; but in Gillies's specimens the leaves and 

 flowers spring at once from the root. 



Runcinate-le&ved Jaborosa. PI. 5 to -J foot. 



Cull. For culture and propagation see Netouxia, p. 454. 



TRIBE II. NICOTIA^NE*. Limb of corolla plicate in aestiva- 

 tion. Stamens equal in number to the segments of the corolla. 

 Fruit capsular, 2-celled. Calyx and corolla 5 -cleft. 



XVI. NICOTIA'NA (this genus takes its name of Jean 

 Nicot, of Nismes in Languedoc, agent from the king of France 

 to Portugal, who procured the seeds from a Dutchman, who had 

 brought them from Florida, and sent them to France.) Tourn. 

 inst. 1. p. 117. t. 41. Lin. gen. no. 248. Schreb. gen. no. 

 334. Juss. gen. 125. ed. Usteri, 139. Vent. tabl. 2. p. 369. 

 St. Hil. fam. nat. 1. p. 286. t. 46. Lam. ill. 2. p. 6. t. 113. 

 Schkuhr, handb. 1. p. 141. t. 44. Gaertn. fruct. 1. p. 264. no. 

 331. t. 55. f. 11. Lehm. nicot. p. 12. H. B. et Kunth, nov. 

 gen. 3. p. 1. Tabacus, Mcench. meth. p. 448. 



LIN. SYST. Pentdndria, Monogijnm. Calyx 5-cleft. Co- 

 rolla funnel-shaped or salver-shaped ; limb 5-lobed, plicate, 

 spreading. Stamens 5, length of the tube of the corolla. An- 

 thers dehiscing lengthwise. Stigma capitate. Capsule 2-celled, 

 covered by the permanent calyx, 2-valved ; valves bipartite, 

 therefore the capsule opens by 4 parts at the apex ; placentas free, 

 distant from the dissepiment. Seeds very numerous, minute. 

 Usually herbs, rarely subshrubs, generally clothed with clammy 

 hairs or down. Flowers terminal, racemose or panicled, white, 

 greenish or purplish. 



SECT. I. TA'BACUM (the name Tobacco, which has superseded 

 all others, is the appellation of a district in Mexico.) Leaves 

 large. Flowers funnel-shaped, red ; limb of corolla spreading, 

 acuminated or acute; throat inflately ventricose. Plants clothed 

 with clammy down. Flowers disposed in short, many-flowered 

 racemes, the whole constituting terminal subcorymbose pani- 

 cles. 



1 N. TA'BACUM (Lin. spec. 258.) herbaceous ; leaves sessile, 

 oblong-lanceolate, acuminated : lower ones decurrent ; throat of 

 corolla inflately ventricose ; segments of the limb acuminated. 

 O- H. Native of America. Desf. fl. all. 1. p. 109. Pursh.fl. 1. 

 p. 141. Ruiz, et Pav. fl.per. 2. p. 15. Lam. ill. t. 113. Woodv. 

 med. bot. p. 162. t. 69. Stev. et Church, med. bot. 1. t. 37. 

 N. Havanensis, Lag. clench, pi. hort. reg. madr. 1796. Bull, 

 herb. 3. t. 285. Blackw. 1. 1. 146. Sabb. hort. rom. 1. t. 89. 

 Regn. bot. 1. 1. 31. Plant downy, clammy. Leaves half stem- 

 clasping. Calyx oblong, with lanceolate, acute, unequal seg- 

 ments. Corolla downy outside ; limb rose-coloured. Capsule 

 length of calyx, or a little longer. 



The Spaniards are said to have first become acquainted with 

 tobacco in the West Indies. It early attracted the notice of the 

 English settlers in Virginia, especially after the founding of 

 James Town in 1607. Shortly after this, it appears that tobacco 

 was introduced in lieu of specie, as the tavern-keepers were 

 compelled to exchange a dinner for a few pounds of tobacco ; 

 and government officers were paid in the same commodity. 

 Tatham, p. 180. 



The species of Nicotiana, principally grown as tobacco, are 

 N. Tdbacum, N. macrophylla, and N. ruslica. The two first are, 



1 



however, generally preferred. The popular narcotic which it 

 furnishes is probably in more extensive use than any other, and 

 its only rival is the betel of the east. According to Linnaeus, 

 tobacco was known in Europe from 1560, being brought by the 

 Spaniards from America, and was cultivated at Lisbon in the 

 same year. It was brought to England from Tobago, in the 

 West Indies, or from Tobasco, in Mexico (and hence the name), 

 by Sir Ralph Lane, in 1586, but only the herb for smoking. 

 Afterwards, according to Hakluyt, seeds were introduced from 

 the same quarter. Sir Walter Raleigh first introduced smoking : 

 in the house in which he lived at Islington were his arms, on a 

 shield, with a tobacco plant on the top. Smoking has, conse- 

 quently, been common in Europe for upwards of two centuries. 

 Pallas, Rumphius, and Loureiro, are of opinion, that in China 

 the use of tobacco is more ancient than the discovery of the new 

 world. 



Tobacco, from being the solace only of the Red Indians of 

 America, has become one of the luxuries of the rich, and almost 

 a necessary of life for the poorer inhabitants of a great portion 

 of the globe. The Hindoo, slow to adopt strange customs, has 

 been caught with the general infection, though some religiously 

 abstain from its use : their nobles, as well as their women, may be 

 seen inhaling it in the midst of perfumed essences ; while the 

 labouring bearer, and hard-working boatmen, seem to derive 

 fresh vigour from their ever-in-hand hooqqas : the mountaineer, 

 finding it inconvenient to carry such an apparatus over his 

 rugged roads, makes a hole in the ground, through which he 

 smokes. " Tobacco, as used by man," says Du Tour (Nouveau 

 cours d'Agriculture, &c.) " gives pleasure to the savage and the 

 philosopher, to the inhabitant of the burning desert and the 

 frozen zone. In short, its use, either in powder, to chew, or to 

 smoke, is universal ; and for no other reason than a sort of con- 

 vulsive motion (sneezing) produced by the first, and a degree of 

 intoxication by the two last modes of usage. A hundred vo- 

 lumes," he adds, " have been written against it, of which a Ger- 

 man has preserved the titles. Among those books is that of 

 James Stuart, king of England, who violently opposed its intro- 

 duction. The grand duke of Moscow forbade its entrance into 

 his territory under pain of the knout for the first offence, and 

 death for the next. The emperor of the Turks, the king of Per- 

 sia, and Pope Urban VIII., issued similar prohibitions, all of which 

 were as ridiculous as those which attended the introduction of 

 coffee or Jesuits' bark. At present, all the sovereigns of Eu- 

 rope, and most of those of other parts of the world, derive a 

 considerable part of their revenue from tobacco." 



Tobacco is cultivated in Europe as far north as Sweden ; and 

 is also grown in China, Japan, and other eastern countries. The 

 sort preferred is N. Tdbacum, which is an elegant plant, grown 

 also in gardens as a border flower. N. rustica, the fausse tabac 

 of the French, Bauern taback of the Germans, and Tabacca 

 cimarosa of the Spanish, is also frequently cultivated, especially 

 in Europe, it being considered hardier than the Virginian sort. 

 Parkinson says he has known Sir Walter Raleigh, when prisoner 

 in the Tower, prefer it to make good tobacco, " which he knew 

 so rightly to cure." Tobacco has been successfully cultivated 

 and cured in this country ; but its growth is prohibited to en- 

 courage our commerce with America. It is now only grown as 

 a curiosity, or for border flowers, or by gardeners for the de- 

 struction of insects. In Germany, and other northern coun- 

 tries, most families who have gardens grow enough of N. rus- 

 tica for their own use ; but as they do not know how to cure it, 

 it is not much valued, and is never made into chewing tobacco. 

 The cultivation of tobacco for commerce. is chiefly carried on in 

 Virginia, Maryland, &c., or almost from 35 to 40 north latitude. 

 The other places of America celebrated for tobacco are Cuba, 

 Vera Cruz, and Cumana ; but in these places it is always grown 



