| Dicotyledon | Literature for Nicotiana tabacum
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2020. |
| Solanaceae -- The Nightshade Family | Bibliography |
| Nicotiana tabacum | |
Common name(s): paka, tobacco |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to western South America, tobacco was introduced to North America in pre-Columbian times and soon reached Europe after the Conquest and has become widespread.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Laysan, Ni`ihau, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Hawai`i. | |
| Habit |
Erect, stout annual or short-lived perennial herb or subshrub, 1‒2 m tall; stems sparsely branched, viscid pubescent with abundant glandular hairs. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves green, simple, alternate, petiolate; blade often large, coarse, elliptic to ovate or obovate, to 50 cm long, usually decreasing in size up the stem, glandular pubescent, margin entire or undulate, apex acute to acuminate, base decurrent, amplexicaul, proximal leaves with winged petioles, distal leaves subsessile. |
|
| Flowers |
Inflorescences a short, dense panicle. Flowers on pedicel 5‒15 mm long; calyx tubular, 12‒20 mm long, tube 10‒15 mm long, lobes narrowly triangular, acute, sometimes unequal, shorter than calyx tube; corolla salverform, limb white, pink, or reddish, 5-lobed to pentagonal, 30‒50 mm in diameter, the tube proper shorter and narrower than throat cylinder, 4‒5 cm long, throat cup distinct; stamens unequal, the upper 4 long, the fifth shorter, all inserted near base of corolla tube and adnate to it for ca. 1 cm, filaments 2.5‒4 cm long, pubescent at base. |
|
| Fruit |
Fruit ellipsoid to ovoid, equaling or exceeding calyx, 15‒25 mm long. |
|
| Seeds |
Seeds numerous, ca. 0.5 mm long, globose to oblong, testa wavy reticulate. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 23, 24, 46, 48, 72. |
|
| Notes |
Self compatible. |
|
| Contributor |
Nancy Khan |
