2140 



NEVIUSIA 



NICOTIANA 



2477. Nicotiana alata var. 

 grandiflora. 



on Sand Mt. A very distinct genus allied to Kerria and 

 Rubus, well distinguished by its apetalpus fls. 



The snow wreath is a low or medium -sized shrub 

 with slender wand-like branches, bright green gen- 

 erally ovate leaves and white feathery flowers in clus- 

 ters arranged wreath-like along the branches. It does 

 not seem perfectly hardy 

 north of Philadelphia though 

 it can be grown as far north 

 as Massachusetts in shel- 

 tered localities; and it pro- 

 duces flowers on the young 

 growth, if partly killed back. 

 Even South it 

 does not de- 

 velop in every 

 situation its 

 full beauty 

 which earned 

 it the name 

 "snow wreath" 

 its flowers 

 are likely to 

 be greenish or 

 dirty white in- 

 stead of snowy. 

 ' It is therefore not a plant 

 to be recommended for 

 general planting. If 

 forced in the greenhouse 

 the flowers come out 

 always pure white, and 

 covered with its feathery 

 blossoms it is an ob- 

 ject of great beauty. It 

 likes a loamy and well- 

 drained soil and a warm 

 sheltered position. 



Propagation is by greenwood cuttings under glass, 

 and by seeds. 



alabamensis, Gray. Shrub, 3-6 ft.: branches terete: 

 Ivs. ovate to oblong-ovate, acute or acuminate, doubly 

 serrate, minutely pubescent while young, finally nearly 

 glabrous, 1-3 in. long: fls. in clusters of 3-8, rarely 

 solitary, about 1 in. across. June, July. B.M. 6806. 

 G.C. III. 35:229; 41:41. G.M. 53:315. G. 26:135. 



ALFRED REHDER. 



NICANDRA (Nicander, poet of Colophon, wrote on 

 plants about 100 B.C.). Syn. Physalodes. Solandcese. 

 One Peruvian herb differing from Physalis chiefly in 

 the 3-5-loculed ovary and dry rather than fleshy fr., 

 and in the larger and more showy fls., of which the 

 corolla is nearly entire. Lately a second species has 

 been described, perhaps a variant. 



Physal&des, Pers. (Atropa physalodes, Linn. Physa- 

 Ibdes peruvidnum, Kuntze. N. physaloldes, Gaertn.). 

 Known as APPLE-OF-PERU, a strong spreading annual, 

 3-4 ft. high, grown for the showy blue fls. and odd frs. : 

 glabrous: Ivs. elliptic or elliptic-ovate, sinuate and 

 toothed, narrowed into a prominent petiole: fls. soli- 

 tary in the axils, on recurving pedicels, an inch or more 

 across, shaped like a potato flower, the corolla blue or 

 bluish: fr. a thin-walled and nearly or quite dry berry, 

 inclosed in an enlarged, strongly 5-winged calyx. B.M. 

 2458. The apple-of-Peru is an old-fashioned garden 

 annual, now rarely seen. It has escaped from cult, 

 in some places in the U. S., and it is now widely dis- 

 tributed in the tropics. It is often confounded with the 

 ground cherry and alkekengi, which are species of 

 Physalis. 



N. violacea, Andre*. Vigorous branched annual, glabrous or 

 sometimes the Ivs. hairy on upper side: Ivs. subtriangular, the 

 cauline reaching 10 in. long and 5 in. broad, coarsely toothed or 

 lobed: fls. solitary, axillary and short-pedicelled ; calyx large, dark 

 violet on lower half, the lobes cordate; corolla violet-blue above 

 and white on lower half, campanulate, to\]/y. in. broad. Probably 



S. Amer. R.H. 1906 : 208. Distinguished from N. Physalodes par- 

 ticularly by the prominently blue corolla and calyx and similar color 

 on the sts., petioles and peduncles, and the scattered colored hairs 

 on upper surface of Ivs. T TT it 



Ll. ti. 13. 



NICOTIANA (named for Jean Nicot, 1530-1600, of 

 Nismes hi Languedoc, consul from the King of France 

 to Lisbon, Portugal, in 1560, who obtained tobacco from 

 a merchant of Flanders, Belgium, which he presented 

 to the court of Portugal and also, on his return to 

 France, to the Queen Catherine de Medici). Solanacese. 

 Herbaceous annuals, perennials or rarely shrubby or 

 arborescent, comprising several stately plants, valued 

 for their rapid growth and large foliage; other species 

 produce showy flowers, and are popular flower-garden 

 subjects; one is the tobacco. 



Herbs, mostly viscid-pubescent, of strong odor, pos- 

 sessing narcotic poisonous properties: Ivs. alternate, 

 never compound, entire or undulate, mostly sessile or 

 nearly so by a tapering base: fls. hermaphrodite, often 

 regular, long-tubular, mostly opening at night and 

 most fragrant then, in terminal racemes, panicles or 

 thyrses; calyx usually persistent, inclosing the fr., tubu- 

 lar-campanulate or ovoid, 5-parted : corolla salverform, 

 funnelform, or tubular-swollen; limb plicate in the bud, 

 5-lobed; stamens 5, inserted on the tube, unequal or 

 nearly equal, included; filaments straight, anthers longi- 

 tudinally dehiscent, ovate or oblong; ovary 2-celled, or 

 4-celled in one species; ovules many; placenta axillary; 

 style simple; stigma capitate: fr. a 2^4-celled caps., but 

 usually splitting into 4 to several valves; seeds numer- 

 ous, minute, oblong, somewhat kidney-form, roughened 

 or pitted. A genus of about 45 species and 54 subspe- 

 cies, mostly of Trop. Amer., with a few from N. and S. 

 Amer. and 1 from Austral. 



Latest publications: Comes, "Monographic du genre 

 Nicotiana," 1899; Splendore, "Sinossi descrittiva ed 

 iconographia dei semi del genrere Nicotiana," 1906; 

 Setchell, "Studies in Nicotiana," 1912; "Tobacco- 

 culture, United States Department of Agriculture, 

 Farmers' Bulletin No. 571, 1914. 



Nicotianas are easily cultivated, but in northern 

 latitudes require a hot exposure and a deep rich loose 

 loamy soil, rich in lime and potash, both of which may 

 be supplied from wood-ashes. As the seeds grow slowly 

 in cool weather, they should be started in early spring 

 under glass and kept 

 moist and warm. For 

 tobacco, in districts 

 farther north, hot- 

 beds will secure rapid 

 growth, but in other 

 localities coldframes 

 with a southern ex- 

 posure should be 

 used. The soil should 

 be a loose loam of 

 high fertility, and 

 thoroughly drained. 

 In the fall, forty 

 pounds of lime and 

 two hundred pounds 

 of stable-manure to 

 100 square feet of 

 bed should be turned 

 under. In the spring, 

 about two weeks be- 

 fore sowing the seed, 

 twenty pounds of 

 cottonseed -meal or 

 castor pomace, one 

 pound of acid phos- 

 phate, and one-half 



f\f OQT"r%r*Tin-f A 



2478. Nicotiana alata 

 var. grand iflora, com- 

 monly known as N. 

 affinis. (XK) 



f 

 or suate of potash 



to 100 square feet 

 of bed-area should be 



