ANCIENT DESCRIPTION. 19 
surrounded by a hairy clammy substance, of a greenish yellow 
color. Theleavesare of alight green; they grow alternately, 
at intervals of two or three inches on the stalk; they are 
oblong and spear-shaped; those lowest on the stalk are about 
twenty inches in length, and they decrease as they ascend. 
The young leaves when about six inches, are of a deep 
green color and rather smooth, and as they approach maturity 
they become yellowish and rougher on the surface. The 
flowers grow in clusters from the extremities of the stalk; 
they are yellow externally and of adelicate red within. They 
are succeeded by kidney shaped capsules of a brown color. 
Thompson in his “ Notices relative to Tobacco” describes 
the tobacco plant as follows:— 
“The species of Nicotiana which was first known, and 
which still furnishes the greatest supply of Tobacco, is the 
N. tobacum, an annual plant, anative of South America, but 
naturalized to our climate. It is a tall, not inelegant plant, 
rising to the height of abont six feet, with a strong, round, 
villous, slightly viscid stem, furnished with alternate leaves, 
which are sessile, or clasp the stems; and are decurrent, lan- 
ceolate, entire ; of a full green on the upper surface, and pale 
on the under. : 
“Tn a vigorous plant, the lower leaves are about twenty 
inches in length, and from three to five in breadth, decreasing 
as they ascend. The inflorescence, or flowering part of the 
stem, is terminal, loosely branching in that form which 
botanists term a panicle, with long, linear floral leaves or 
bractes at the origin of each division. 
“The flowers, which bloom in July and August, are of a 
pale pink or rose color : the calyx, or flower-cup, is bell-shaped, 
obscurely pentangular, villous, slightly viscid, and presenting 
at the margin five acute, erect segments. The corolla is 
twice the length of the calyx, viscid, tubular below, swelling 
above into an oblong cup, and expanding at the lip into five 
somewhat plaited, pointed segments; the seed vessel is an 
oblong or ovate capsule, containing numerous reniform seeds, 
which are ripe in September and October ; and if not collected, 
are shed by the capsule opening at the apex.” 
In Stevens and Liebault’s Maison Rustique, or the Country 
Farm, (London, 1606), is found the following curious account 
of the tobacco plant :— 
