NICOTIANA SANDER AE, 219 



of funnel-shaped flowers, white within and 

 purple upon the outside. The flowers open at 

 night, towards the end of summer. Argen- 

 tine. A white-flowered variety of this kind 

 introduced by Messrs. Dammann of Naples as 

 N. noctijiora albijiora is a better plant, with 

 smooth grey-green foliage and much-branched 

 stems of 3 feet or more. The flowers, coming 

 in clusters of twenty to thirty, are small, 

 pretty, and fragrant, opening towards evening 

 and remaining open till the morning. In mild 

 years and warm districts the roots pass the 

 winter in the ground, forming beautiful tufts 

 in their second season. 



Clustered Tobacco [N. paniculatd) . — A 

 kind coming very near to N. Langsdorjfi, but 

 smaller, and with stalked instead of stemless 

 leaves. S. America. 



Persian Tobacco (N. per ska). — A species 

 unknown in gardens but largely cultivated in 

 the east, where it yields the famous Shiraz to- 

 bacco; flowers white within, greenish without 

 and in the tube. 



Syrian Tobacco (N. rusticd). — A low, 

 homely plant of uncertain origin, believed to 

 have come from the Old World (Syria) though 

 now common as a wild plant in Mexico and 

 North America. It is a hairy and sticky annual 

 herb, with funnel-shaped flowers of green or 

 dull yellow, opening in the daytime, but of 

 little beauty. 



Sweet Australian Tobacco (N. suaveo- 

 lens). — -A variable herb of graceful habit, with 

 fragrant white flowers in loose clusters during 

 summer, and pretty forcutting. Its low growth 

 and unbranched stems make it useful where 

 more vigorous kinds would be out of place, 

 while it will flower well in half-shade. The 

 salver-shaped flowers of about an inch wide are 

 very pure though sometimes tinged with green 

 on the outside, while the broad lobes of the 

 corolla so overlap at the edges as to form a neatly 

 rounded flower. Australia and New Holland. 

 Syn.iV". undulata. 



Mountain Tobacco {N. sylvestris). — A 

 fine plant of good habit and foliage, being better 

 in this way than many of thegroup. Discovered 

 in the mountains of Argentine at a height of 

 5,000 feet, it has proved one of the best new 

 border plants of recent years, growing with 

 great vigour to a height of 5 or 6 feet, its stems 

 branched almost from the ground and bearing 



a profusion of pure white blossoms from July 

 into late autumn. The flowers resemble those 

 of N. alata but are narrower and longer in the 

 tube (which is also rather inflated in the centre) 

 and are carried loosely in long spikes of 1 2 or 

 1 5 inches, covering the plant, and keeping open 

 all day in cloudy weather. Though the flowers 

 hang, the leaves stand nearly erect, with an 

 appearance unlike any other kind. Though 

 mostly grown as an annual the fleshy roots are 

 perennial, and young plants maybe raised from 

 root-cuttings in early spring. Plants wintered 

 under glass make fine masses when planted out 

 in their second season, and are of better habit 

 than young seedlings; in warm gardens of the 

 south, protected plants would perhaps survive 

 a mild winter in the open. 



CommonTobacco (N. Tabacuni) . — Though 

 cultivated on a vast scale to supply the grow- 

 ing demand for tobacco, this plant is rarely seen 

 in gardens, owing in part to the restrictions 

 placed upon its use — even for ornament — in 

 many countries. But this is no great loss, for 

 its intensely poisonous root and smell are not 

 without danger in a garden, and though of im- 

 posing growth the plants are very liable to be 

 damaged in bad weather. A few distinct varie- 

 ties are grown for their massive foliage, of which 

 the best known are jruticosum, of dwarf habit 

 with stout woody base and narrower leaves, 

 which are less exposed to injury in storms; 

 macrophylla, a plant reaching 8 feet and bear- 

 ing very large leaves of 1 8 inches long, prettily 

 waved and of good colour, and large flowers in 

 several shades from carmine to rosy-purple ; 

 grandijiorum and pur pure um are other large- 

 flowered varieties in various shades, but in this 

 species the flowers often appear so late in the 

 autumn that whateverbeauty they have is soon 

 lost. For this reason they are sometimes grown 

 in pots and flowered under glass. 



Giant Tobacco [N. totnentosd) . — A stately 

 plant first introduced to gardens through stray 

 seeds sent to France from Brazil with a con- 

 signment of orchids. When well grown its tall 

 stemof 8 or more feet standsstoutly erect, bear- 

 ingimmenseleavesof dark olive green, the con- 

 spicuous rosy-brown colour of the veins, and 

 their tougher texture, marking it out from 

 other kinds. Given ample space and rich soil, 

 a group of these plants forms a striking object 

 upon the lawn or at the end of a vista, and spite 



