195 
NICOTIANA TABACUM. 
Tobacco.^ 
Class Pentandria. — Order Monogynia. 
Nat. Ord. LuRiDiE, Linn. Solane^, Juss. 
Gen. Char. Cahjx monophyllus, egg-shaped, 5-cleft. 
Corolla funnel-shaped, margin spreading, plaited. Stamens 
inclined. Germen egg-shaped. Seeds numerous, kidney- 
shaped, rough. 
Spec. Char. Leaves lanceolate, sessile, decurrent. 
Tobacco is an annual plant, a native of North America, and was 
first brought into Europe about the middle of the sixteenth century. 
According to Humboldt, the first tobacco was brought from Yucatan, 
and the cidtivation of it was soon introduced into the southern 
states of Europe, particularly Portugal. It would appear that the 
first use which was made of this plant, and the only one to which 
it was applied by the natives of the countries wherein it grew, was 
to smoke it; the snufiing and chewing of tobacco are, compara- 
tively speaking, modern refinements.f Several attempts were made, 
after the introduction of the plant into Europe, to abolish the use 
of it : in England, Switzerland, and Russia, it was denounced, and 
the use of it prohibited under severe penalties ; experience, how- 
fever, has shewn that these attempts to controul the rising taste of 
the. day were wholly unavailing, and it is even probable, such is the 
perverseness of human nature, that the interdict only served to in- 
crease the desire to attain this loathsome weed. It does indeed 
appear strange that a plant so noxious in its qualities, so offensive 
in its smell, and so acrid and disagreeable in its taste, should so ra- 
pidly have grown into public favour, not only among the civihzed 
of Europe, but even among savage tribes, where it has become 
known: the natives of Guinea, and the Gold Coast, seek for it with 
* Fig. a. The corolla cut open to shew the stamens. h. The pericarp, c. The 
pistilluin. 
t The introduction into England of the custom of smoking is ascribed to Sir Walter 
Raleigh. 
