Nicotiana tabacum
Nicotiana tabacum
Safety & Hazards
The plant contains the toxic and highly addictive alkaloid nicotine. Widely used in all parts of the world as a stimulant, usually by smoking the plant or chewing it, in larger doses nicotine causes vomiting, diarrhoea, slow pulse, dizziness, collapse, and respiratory failure[ 293 Title Poisonous Plants of North Carolina Publication Author Website http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/poison/poison.htm Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An excellent concise but comprehensive guide to toxic plants that grow in N. Carolina. It lists even those plants that are of very low toxicity, including several well-known food plants such as carrots and potatoes. ].
Botanical Description
Nicotiana tabacum is an annual or short-lived perennial, erect, unbranched or sparsely branched plant with a well-developed taproot. It can grow 70 - 250cm tall[ 266 Title Flora of China Publication Author Website http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/ Publisher Missouri Botanical Garden Press; St. Louis. Year 1994 ISBN Description An excellent, comprehensive resource in 25 volumes. In addition to the botanical information the flora also gives basic information on habitat and some uses. An on-line version is also available. , 310 Title Plant Resources of Southeast Asia Publication Author Website http://proseanet.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Lots of information on the uses of the plants of SE Asia. ]. The most widely cultivated tobacco species, and one of the major non-food crops grown in the world, it is a rich source of the alkaloid nicotine and has a long history of use as a medicinal plant and social stimulant. It was cultivated in the Americas well before the arrival of the Europeans and is now widely grown in many other parts of the world including the USA, India and China[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ]. Originally used as chewing tobacco, later smoking tobacco varieties were selected[ 317 Title Mansfeld's Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Plants Publication Author Website http://mansfeld.ipk-gatersleben.de/pls/htmldb_pgrc/f?p=185:3:4292127278597336 Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description Terse details of a huge range of useful plants. ]. Nicotiana tabacum has been has been widely cultivated beyond its native range to produce the economically important crop tobacco, but it has escaped from cultivation and naturalized in many non-native regions. It is known to be invasive in Cuba, Asia, and parts of the Pacific. High-risk traits include its self-compatibility, tolerance of a broad climate range and soil conditions, toxicity to animals and humans, and its ability to reproduce prolifically by producing numerous tiny, grainlike, viable seeds[ 1093 Title Invasive Species Compendium Publication Author Website http://www.cabi.org Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description An immense resource - in depth information on over 900 species of invasive plants (it also has information on animals, fungi etc). ].