18 BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION. 
greater extent than most plants. It isa native of America, 
the discovery of the continent and the plant occurring almost 
‘simultaneously. It succeeds best in a deep rich loam ina 
“climate ranging from forty to fifty degrees of latitude. After 
having been introduced and cultivated in nearly all parts of 
the world, America enjoys the reputation of growing the 
' finest varieties known to commerce. European tobacco is 
lacking in flavor and is less powerful than the tobacco of 
America. : 
The botanical account of tobacco is as follows :— 
_ “Nicotiana, the tobacco plant is a genus of plants of the 
order of Monogynia, belonging to the pentandria class, order 
1, of class V. It bears a tubular 5-cleft calyx; a funnel- 
formed corolla, with a plaited 5-cleft border; the stamina 
inclined ; the stigma capitate; the capsule 2-celled, and 2 to 
4 valved.” 
A more general description of the plant is given by an 
American writer :— 
“The tobacco plant is an annual growing from eighteen 
inches (dwarf tobacco) to seven or eight feet in height*. It 
‘bears numerous leaves of a pale green color sessile, ovate 
lanceolate and pointed in form, which come out alternately 
from two to three inches apart. The flowers grow in loose 
panicles at the extremity of the stalks, and the calyx is bell- 
shaped, and divided at its summit into five pointed segments. 
The tube of the corolla expands at the top into an oblong 
cup terminating in a 5-lobed plaited rose-colored border. 
The pistil consists of an oval germ, a slender style longer 
than the stamen, and a cleft stigma. The flowers are suc- 
ceeded by capsules of 2 cells opening at the summit and 
containing numerous kidney-shaped seeds.” 
Two of the finest varieties of Nicotiana Tobacum that are 
cultivated are the Oronoco and the Sweet Scented ; they differ 
only in the form of the leaves, those of the latter variety being 
shorter and broader than the other. They are annual herba- 
ceous plants, rising with strong erect stems to the height of 
from six to nine feet, with fine handsome foliage. The stalk 
near the root is often an inch or more in diameter, and 
“* An old English writer in describing tobacco says :—* When at its just height, it 1s as tall. 
fg an ordinary sized man." 
