Nicotiana


Nicotiana is a genus of herbaceous plants and shrubs in 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

Species

The 67 species include;
The word nicotiana 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.

Ecology

Despite containing enough nicotine and/or other compounds such as germacrene and anabasine and other piperidine alkaloids to deter most herbivores, 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 have become established as invasive species in some places.
In the 19th century, young tobacco plantings came under increasing attack from flea beetles, 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 covering young plants with a frame covered with 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:
These are mainly Noctuidae, but they also comprise Sphingidae, Gelechiidae and Crambidae.

Cultivation

Several species of Nicotiana, such as N. sylvestris, N. alata 'Lime Green' and N. langsdorffii are grown as ornamental plants, often under the name of flowering tobacco. They are popular vespertines, their sweet-smelling flowers opening in the evening to be visited by hawkmoths and other pollinators. In temperate climates they behave as annuals.
The hybrid cultivars Domino Series and 'Lime Green' have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Garden varieties are derived from N. alata and more recently from Nicotiana x sanderae.
The tobacco budworm has proven to be a massive pest of many species in the genus, and has resisted many attempts at management.