330 Solanacea Nicotiana. 



7. NICOTIANA. 



Tall stout usually viscid large-leaved herbs. Flowers race- 

 mose or paniculate. Calyx carnpanulate, 5-lobed. Corolla 

 funnel- or salver-shaped ; limb plaited. Stamens included. 

 Fruit a 2-celled many-seeded capsule, dehiscing at the top in 

 2 or 4 valves. The species are natives of tropical America and 

 Eastern Asia, but several are now found in a semi-wild state 

 all over the world. The genus was named after Nicot, a Portu- 

 guese, who it is believed introduced tobacco into France. 

 These plants are seldom used for ornamental purposes, though 

 some of them might be worthy of a place in large gardens on 

 account of their ample foliage. 



N. rustica, N. Tabacum, and N. macrophi/lla, syn. N. latis- 

 sima, are the species of Tobacco commonly grown in Europe 



and elsewhere for their 

 leaves. The first has yel- 

 lowish green flowers and 

 is of dwarfish habit, the 

 others have pink flowers 

 and large simple decur- 

 rent leaves, auricled at 

 the base in the latter. 



N. wigandioldes and 

 N. glauca are ornamental 

 in foliage, but the flowers 

 .. are small and insignifi- 

 cant. 



8. DATtTBA. 



Shrubs or coarse fetid 

 herbs with ovate angular 

 lobed leaves and large 

 showy solitary flowers. 

 Calyx 5-lobed, separating 

 transversely, the lower 

 part persistent with the 

 fruit. Corolla funnel- or 

 salver-shaped, with a 

 plaited 5- to 10-toothed 



Fig. 180. Datura ceratocaula. L /-. i 



limb. Capsule 4-celled, 



4-valved, smooth or prickly ; seeds large and flat. The few 

 species are widely dispersed in warm and tropical regions, and 



