Nicotiana

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Nicotiana >

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Read about Nicotiana in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Nicotiana (named for Jean Nicot, 1530-1600, of Nismes in Languedoc, consul from the King of France to Lisbon, Portugal, in 1560, who obtained tobacco from a merchant of Flanders, Belgium, which he presented to the court of Portugal and also, on his return to France, to the Queen Catherine de Medici). Solanaceae. Herbaceous annuals, perennials or rarely shrubby or arborescent, comprising several stately plants, valued for their rapid growth and large foliage; other species produce showy flowers, and are popular flower-garden subjects; one is the tobacco. Herbs, mostly viscid-pubescent, of strong odor, possessing narcotic poisonous properties: Lvs. alternate, never compound, entire or undulate, mostly sessile or nearly so by a tapering base: fls. hermaphrodite, often regular, long-tubular, mostly opening at night and most fragrant then, in terminal racemes, panicles or thyrses; calyx usually persistent, inclosing the fr., tubular-campanulate or ovoid, 5-parted; corolla salverform, funnelform, or tubular-swollen; limb plicate in the bud, 5-lobed; stamens 5, inserted on the tube, unequal or nearly equal, included; filaments straight, anthers longitudinally dehiscent, ovate or oblong; ovary 2-celled, or 4-celled in one species; ovules many; placenta axillary; style simple; stigma capitate: fr. a 2-4-celled caps., but usually splitting into 4 to several valves; seeds numerous, minute, oblong, somewhat kidney-form, roughened or pitted.—A genus of about 45 species and 54 subspecies, mostly of Trop. Amer., with a few from N. and S. Amer. and 1 from Austral. Latest publications: Comes, "Monographie du genre Nicotiana." 1899; Splendore, "Sinossi descrittiva ed iconographia dei semi del genrere Nicotiana," 1906; Setchell. "Studies in Nicotiana," 1912; "Tobacco- culture, United States Department of Agriculture, Farmers' Bulletin No. 571, 1914. Nicotianas are easily cultivated, but in northern latitudes require a hot exposure and a deep rich loose loamy soil, rich in lime and potash, both of which may be supplied from wood-ashes. As the seeds grow slowly in cool weather, they should be started hi early spring under glass and kept moist and warm. For tobacco, in districts farther north, hotbeds will secure rapid growth, but in other localities coldframes with a southern exposure should be used. The soil should be a loose loam of high fertility, and thoroughly drained. In the fall, forty pounds of lime and two hundred pounds of stable-manure to 100 square feet of bed should be turned under. In the spring, about two weeks before sowing the seed, twenty pounds of cottonseed-meal or castor pomace, one pound of acid phosphate, and one-half pound of carbonate or sulfate of potash to 100 square feet of bed-area should be thoroughly spaded into the soil to a depth of 4 or 5 inches, and the bed-surface finely pulverized. If possible, the soil should then be sterilized with steam to prevent fungous diseases and the growth of weed seeds. The seed should be sown at the rate of an even tea- spoonful of dry seed to 100 square feet of bed. In order to secure an even distribution of the seed, it is thoroughly mixed into two quarts of land-plaster, finely sifted wood-ashes or bone-meal. Three sowings should be made to insure an even distribution over the bed, the light color of the filler material serving to indicate the evenness of the distribution. The seed must be covered by going over the bed with a roller, or packing with a plank. When young, nicotianas will stand considerable frost, but become more sensitive with age. They are well adapted to pot or tub culture and are fine for summer porch-decoration. N. alata, best known in the trade as N. affinis, and N. Sanderae are the most popular flower-garden plants. Of the larger species for subtropical bedding, N. glauca, N. tomentosa, and N. Tabacum are best. The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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