ITS VARIETIES. <* 



being pointed, as shown at a 2. Shag, Returns, and 

 the ordinary cut tobaccos are prepared from this kind ; 

 of which there are many varieties, giving name to 

 different qualities of tobacco, and chiefly adopted from 

 the places of their growth. The Syrian Tobacco 

 (Nicotiana rustica) differs from this in many essential 

 particulars, as may be seen in our engraving (fig. 2), 

 the principal being the branched stem, each offshoot 

 bearing flowers ; the leaves do not clasp the stem, but 

 are attached by a long stalk, and they are not lanceo- 

 late, but ovate in form ; the flowers are not pink, but 

 green, and the segments of the corolla are rounded. 

 It does not grow so high as the American plant by 

 about two feet ; it is milder than that in flavour, and 

 is used for the more delicate cut tobaccos and cigars. 

 The Latakia tobacco, and that known as Turkish and 

 Syrian, are both manufactured from this plant. It is 

 a native of America, but grows wild in other coun- 

 tries, and is a hardy annual in English gardens, 

 flowering from Midsummer to Michaelmas, so that by 

 some botanists it has been termed " common, or 

 English tobacco." The Shiraz Tobacco (Nicotiana 

 persica — Lindley) differs from both in the form of the 

 leaves, and the colour of the flowers, which are white, 

 and the segments of the corolla unequal. It is a native 

 of Persia, and used for the manufacture of their most 

 delicate kinds for smoking, but Lindley informs us 

 that it is not fitted to form cigars, as it does not readily 

 ignite. It is also never used medicinally as other 

 tobaccos are, or have been. 



B 2 



