Nicotiana ([ Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607]) is a genus of herbaceous plants and in the family Solanaceae that is Native plant to the Americas, Australia, Southwestern 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 the cultivation of Tobacco that are used for manufacturing and producing tobacco products, including , , , chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, snuff, snus, etc.
Taxonomy
Species
The 79 accepted and known species include:
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Nicotiana acuminata (Graham) Hook. – manyflower tobacco or many-flowered tobacco
[Knapp et al. (2004) Nomenclatural changes and a new sectional classification in Nicotiana (Solanaceae) Taxon. 53 (1):73–82.]
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Nicotiana africana Merxm.
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Nicotiana alata Link & Otto – jasmine tobacco, sweet tobacco, winged tobacco, Persian tobacco, tanbaku (in Persian language)
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Nicotiana attenuata John Torrey ex Sereno Watson – coyote tobacco
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Nicotiana benthamiana Karel Domin
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Nicotiana clevelandii Asa Gray
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Nicotiana glauca Graham – tree tobacco, Brazilian tree tobacco, shrub tobacco, wild tobacco, tobacco plant, tobacco bush, tobacco tree, mustard tree
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Nicotiana glutinosa L.
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Nicotiana langsdorffii Weinm.
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Nicotiana longiflora Cav.
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Nicotiana mutabilis Stehmann & Semir
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Nicotiana occidentalis H.-M. Wheeler
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Nicotiana obtusifolia Martin Martens & Galeotti – desert tobacco, punche, "tabaquillo"
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Nicotiana otophora Griseb.
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Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viv. – Tex-Mex tobacco
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Nicotiana quadrivalvis Pursh – Indian tobacco
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Nicotiana rustica L. – Aztec tobacco, strong tobacco, mapacho
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Nicotiana suaveolens Lehm. – Australian tobacco
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Nicotiana sylvestris Speg. & Comes – woodland tobacco, flowering tobacco, South American tobacco
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Nicotiana tabacum L. – common tobacco, domesticated tobacco, cultivated tobacco, commercial tobacco (grown for the production of , , , chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, snuff, snus, etc.)
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Nicotiana tomentosiformis Goodsp.
Manmade hybrids
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Nicotiana × didepta – N. forsteri × N. tabacum
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Nicotiana × digluta – N. glutinosa × N. tabacum
[Clausen, R.E. (1928) Interspecific hybridization in Nicotiana. VII. The cytology of hybrids of the synthetic species, digluta, with its parents, glutinosa and tabacum. Univ. Cal. Pub. Botany. 11(10):177-211.]
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Nicotiana × sanderae Hort. ex Wats. – N. alata × N. forgetiana
Formerly placed here
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Petunia axillaris (Lam.) Britton et al. (as N. axillaris Lam.) – large white petunia, wild white petunia, white moon petunia
Etymology
The genus
Nicotiana (from which the word
nicotine is derived) was named in honor of
Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who in 1559 sent samples as a medicine to the court of Catherine de' Medici.
Ecology
Despite containing enough
nicotine and/or other compounds such as
germacrene and
anabasine and other piperidine alkaloids (varying between species) to deter most
,
a number of such animals have
Evolution the ability to feed on
Nicotiana species without being harmed. Nonetheless, tobacco is unpalatable to many species and therefore some tobacco plants (mainly tree tobacco (
Nicotiana glauca)) have become established as
invasive species in some places.
In the 19th century, young tobacco plantings came under increasing attack from (particularly the potato flea beetle ( Epitrix cucumeris) and/or Epitrix pubescens), causing the destruction of half the United States tobacco crop in 1876. In the years afterward, many experiments were attempted and discussed to control the potato flea beetle. By 1880, it was discovered that covering young plants with a frame covered with thin fabric (instead of with branches, as had previously been used for frost control) would effectively protect the plants from the beetle. This practice spread until it became ubiquitous in the 1890s.
Tobacco, alongside its related products, can be infested by Parasitism such as the tobacco beetle ( Lasioderma serricorne) and the tobacco moth ( Ephestia elutella), which are the most widespread and damaging pests in the tobacco industry.
Other whose feed on Nicotiana include:
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Black cutworm, greasy cutworm, or floodplain cutworm (as a caterpillar), dark sword-grass or ipsilon dart (as a moth) ( Agrotis ipsilon)
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Turnip moth ( Agrotis segetum)
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Mouse moth ( Amphipyra tragopoginis)
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Clover cutworm (as a caterpillar), nutmeg (as a moth) ( Hadula trifolii or Anarta trifolii)
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Endoclita excrescens
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Hawaiian tobacco hornworm or Hawaiian tomato hornworm (as a caterpillar), Blackburn's sphinx moth (as a moth) ( Manduca blackburni)
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Tobacco hornworm or Goliath worm (as a caterpillar), tobacco hawkmoth or Carolina sphinx moth (as a moth) ( Manduca sexta)
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Tomato hornworm (as a caterpillar), five-spotted hawkmoth (as a moth) ( Manduca quinquemaculata)
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Cabbage moth ( Mamestra brassicae)
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Angle shades ( Phlogophora meticulosa)
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Setaceous Hebrew character ( Xestia c-nigrum)
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Cabbage looper ( Trichoplusia ni)
[United States. Agricultural Research Service (1984), Suppression and Management of Cabbage Looper Populations, U.S. States Dept. of Agriculture, retrieved 25 September 2017]
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Fall armyworm ( Spodoptera frugiperda)
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Tobacco spitworm (as a caterpillar), potato tuber moth (as a moth) ( Phthorimaea operculella)
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South American tomato pinworm, tomato pinworm or tomato leafminer (as a caterpillar), South American tomato moth (as a moth) ( Tuta absoluta)
[
]
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Eggplant leafroller moth or nightshade leaftier ( Lineodes integra)
[
]
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Eggplant webworm moth ( Rhectocraspeda periusalis)
[
]
These are mainly Noctuidae, but they also comprise Sphingidae, Gelechiidae, and Crambidae.
Cultivation
Several species of
Nicotiana, such as
N. sylvestris,
'Lime Green'
[ and N. langsdorffii are grown as , often under the name of flowering tobacco.]
Garden varieties are derived from N. alata (e.g., the 'Niki' and 'Saratoga' series) and more recently from Nicotiana × sanderae (e.g., the 'Perfume' and 'Domino' series).[
]
The tobacco budworm ( Chloridea virescens) has proved to be a massive "pest" of many species in the genus, and has resisted many attempts at management.
Bibliography
External links
