134 Tobacco, 



with one or two others, have been much cultivated in France 

 and Italy, and somewhat in Great Britain, for the sake of 

 their roots, which are boiled till they are tender, and then eaten 

 either hot, with sauce, or cold, with vinegar and pepper. It 

 is not known that the Campanulas possess any peculiar 

 properties, medicinal or otherwise j their value arises almost 

 entirely from their beauty. 



NICOTIANA— TOBACCO. 



Natural Order, Solanaceae. Linnsean Class and Order, Pentandria, Mono- 

 gynia. Generic Distinctions : — Corolla, funnel-shaped, or salver-shaped; 

 limb equal ; stamens rather unequal, inclosed or exserted ; capsule open- 

 ing by four parts at the apex. 



N- tabacum. Leaves, sessile, oblong lanceolate, acuminate ; lower ones 

 decurvent ; throat of the corolla inllately ventricose ; segments of the 

 limb acuminate. — Plate 22, Fig. 1. 



N.multivalvis. Clothed with viscid hairs or down ; leaves, fleshy, ovate 

 lanceolate, lower ones petiolate; flowers, axillary, solitary ; calyx, many 

 parted ; capsules, many celled. — Plate 22, Fig. 2. 



This genus received its name from John Nicot, of Nismes, 

 in Languedoc, who seems first to have made it known in 

 Europe. The first tobacco plant raised in Europe is said to 

 have been presented to the celebrated Catherine de Medicis, 

 from which circumstance it was called Herbe a la Heine, a 

 name which is still preserved by the French. The species 

 commonly grown for the production of tobacco, the use of 

 which has become more extensive than that of any other nar- 

 cotic, are two, N. rustica and N. tabacum. The latter is the 

 one more commonly called Virginian tobacco, and is cultivated 

 over a great portion of the southern regions of this country. 

 It is supposed to have been known in Europe as early as 1560, 

 but was first introduced into England by Ralph Lane, in 1586. 

 He brought some of it prepared for smoking, either from the 

 island of Tobago, in the West Indies, or from the province of 

 Tobasco, in Mexico, whence was derived its common name. 



