Nicotiana

Nicotiana /ˌnɪkɵʃiˈeɪnə/^[3] is a genus of herbaceous plants and shrubs of the family Solanaceae, that is indigenous to the Americas, Australia, south west Africa and the South Pacific. Various Nicotiana species, commonly referred to as tobacco plants, are cultivated as ornamental garden plants. N. tabacum is grown worldwide for production of tobacco leaf for cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Taxonomy[edit]

Species[edit]

The 67 species include;^[4][5]

Manmade hybrids[edit]

• Nicotiana × didepta N. debneyi × N. tabacum^[7]
• Nicotiana × digluta N. glutinosa × N. tabacum^[8]
• Nicotiana × sanderae Hort. ex Wats. N. alata × N. forgetiana^[7]

Formerly placed here[edit]

• Petunia axillaris (Lam.) Britton et al. (as N. axillaris Lam.)^[9]

Etymology[edit]

The word nicotiana (as well as nicotine) was named in honor of Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who in 1559 sent it as a medicine to the court of Catherine de' Medici.^[10]

Ecology[edit]

Female Manduca sexta (Tobacco Hornworm)

Despite containing enough nicotine and/or other compounds such as germacrene and anabasine and other piperidine alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most herbivores,^[11] a number of such animals have evolved the ability to feed on Nicotiana species without being harmed. Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species and therefore some tobacco plants (chiefly Tree Tobacco, N. glauca) have become established as invasive species in some places.

In the nineteenth century, young tobacco plantings came under increasing attack from flea beetles (Epitrix cucumeris and/or Epitrix pubescens), causing destruction of half the United States tobacco crop in 1876. In the years afterward, many experiments were attempted and discussed to control the flea beetle. By 1880, it was discovered that replacing the branches with a frame covered by thin fabric would effectively protect plants from the beetle. This practice spread until it became ubiquitous in the 1890s.

Lepidoptera whose caterpillars feed on Nicotiana include:

• Dark Sword-grass or Black cutworm, Agrotis ipsilon
• Turnip Moth, Agrotis segetum
• Mouse Moth, Amphipyra tragopoginis
• The Nutmeg, Discestra trifolii
• Endoclita excrescens
• Blackburn's Sphinx Moth, Manduca blackburni
• Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca sexta
• Tomato Hornworm, Manduca quinquemaculata
• Cabbage Moth, Mamestra brassicae
• Angle Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa
• Setaceous Hebrew Character, Xestia c-nigrum

These are mainly Noctuidae and some Sphingidae.

Cultivation[edit]

Nicotiana sylvestris

Nicotiana alata

Nicotiana langsdorffii

Nicotiana obtusifolia

Nicotiana × sanderae ornamental cultivar

Several species of Nicotiana, such as N. sylvestris,^[12]N. alata 'Lime Green'^[13][14] and N. langsdorffii are grown as ornamental plants, often under the name of Flowering Tobacco.^[4][15] They are popular vespertines (evening bloomers), their sweet-smelling flowers opening in the evening to be visited by hawkmoths and other pollinators. In temperate climates they behave as annuals (Hardiness 9a-11).^[16] The hybrid cultivars Domino Series ^[17] and 'Lime Green'^[14] have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Garden varieties are derived from N. alata (e.g. 'Niki' and 'Saratoga' series) and more recently from Nicotiana x sanderae (e.g. 'Perfume' and 'Domino' series).^[15]

See also[edit]

• Agroinfiltration
• Edgar Anderson
• Indian tobacco^{[disambiguation needed]}
• Jamestown, Virginia
• John Rolfe
• List of plants poisonous to equines
• Pectinesterase
• Pipe-weed
• Turkish tobacco

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]