22 University of California Publications in Botany [Vol. 5 



of Comes (1899, p. 44). It was received under the name of 

 Nicotiana acntiflora, as have been also one or two other plants 

 from other sources. Our plant is certainly very near to N. 

 longi flora, as cultivated in the U. C. B. G., differing chiefly in 

 the decidedly more yellowish green stems and foliage, flowers 

 greenish white with only a slight tinge of purple in some of 

 them, more sinuous lobes recurved to the limb of the corolla, 

 and more conduplicate and twisted cauline leaves. Its perennial 

 character in the U. C. B. G. is limited to two or three years, 

 as in typical N. longiflora. 



Nicotiana alata Link et Utto. 



Nicotiana alata in one form or another has been a favorite 

 in cultivation for a long period, partly for ornamental purposes, 

 but partly, it is claimed by many authorities, to provide the 

 Persian tobacco so highly esteemed for its delicacy and perfume. 

 The most commonly cultivated variety is the plant called Nico- 

 tiana affinis Moore (1881, p. 141, fig. 31). Comes (1899, p. 37) 

 has designated this as var. grandiflora of N. alata. Another 

 variety of N. alata, according to Comes, is N. persica Lindley 

 (1833, pi. 1592). This is N. alata var. persica (Lindl.) Comes 

 (1899, p. 36). The differences between these three (?) sets of 

 plants seem to be largely in the more or less amplexicaul base 

 of the leaf as well as its varying degree of decurrence, the 

 varying size of the flower, and the variety exhibited in the 

 disproportionality (zygomorphism) between the upper three 

 lobes of the limb of the corolla and the lower two. In the type 

 of the species, all five lobes are said to be very nearly equal, 

 obtuse and not emarginate and the limb very little oblique ; 

 in var. persica the limb is said to be decidedly oblique, the lobes 

 scarcely unequal but strongly emarginate ; in var. grandiflora 

 the tube of the corolla is said to be longer and stouter, the limb 

 very oblique, broader, with larger lobes, the lower two being 

 much the larger, but only slightly emarginate. 



I have cultivated several different sets of N. alata in the 

 U. C. B. G. and have obtained a variety of plants, but without 

 being able to separate the varieties satisfactorily. The plants, 

 clearly and distinctly belonging to N. alata, are all of var. 



