2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Tobacco (lat. Nicotiana) - a genus of herbaceous plants born in the American tropics, ranked by botanists in the Solanaceae family (Latin Solanaceae). A number of species of the genus are very decorative, have large, bright and fragrant flowers with a long flowering period. Tobacco leaves are used to make snuff and smoking tobacco that are harmful to health.
What's in your name
In the Latin name of the genus "Nicotiana", the name of the French diplomat, Jean Villeman Nico, who first introduced the French nobility of the 16th century to snuff brought to Europe from the New World, remained in the memory of people for centuries.
Unlike their relatives in the Solanaceae family, such as eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes, which were delivered by the "discoverers" of the American lands at the same time as tobacco, but came a long way as ornamental plants before they were recognized as useful vegetables, tobacco quickly found a path to popularity, turning into fun for the nobility. In those distant times, they did not think that this fun would turn into a big health problem for Mankind.
Tobacco was brought to Russia by Peter the Great and was not well received by the Russian people. But Peter's persistence was stronger than the resistance shown, and therefore today we are reaping the sad fruits of the spread of the American alien across the country.
Description
Tobacco is a herbaceous vigorous plant with a long taproot reaching a depth of two meters. The sturdy, branched stem exhibits whole, large leaves that may be nearly sessile or petioled.
At the ends of the stems, inflorescences are born, impressive in their size, formed from large funnel-shaped flowers. This flower "funnel" consists of a long tube and a delicate corolla with five petals. In many types of tobacco, flowers open only at night, while exuding a pleasant aroma.
The fruit is a capsule with numerous dark brown seeds of an oval shape and scanty size. The seeds are very tenacious and have good germination.
Varieties
* "Nicotiana tabacum" (Real tobacco) - a species whose leaves people grow for the deceptive pleasure of making a tobacco mixture after drying. Therefore, it is the most numerous species on the planet. It is an impressive plant up to one meter high with long and large leaves and inflorescences of funnel-shaped flowers of pink or red color.
* "Nicotiana alata" (winged tobacco) - the plant is a half-meter bushes with bright green oblong leaves and large funnel-shaped white flowers, exuding a pleasant aroma at night, since flowers bloom only at night. This species gave birth to many hybrids with various colors of the corolla: crimson, yellow, pink.
* "Nicotiana forgetiana" (Forgeta Tobacco) - a plant with a branching erect stem with a height of 80 to 150 centimeters. The stems and leaves of the plant are protected from bad weather and pests by glandular hairs. At the ends of the shoots, purple-red flowers gather in paniculate inflorescences, exuding a night scent.
* "Nicotiana x sanderae" (Sandera Tobacco) - a hybrid of the two previous species. Depending on the variety, the height of the bush can be from 40 to 80 centimeters. Flowers from white to red shades. Unlike most species of the genus, which open their corollas only at night, the flowers of the hybrids greet the world both at night and during the day. True, for this they lost their aroma.
* Havana Group - Plants of this group are distinguished by abundant multicolored flowering and compact bushes, which are suitable for any type of flower garden.
Growing
Plants of the genus "Nicotiana" love to grow in an open place in the sun, but they will also tolerate light partial shade.
They prefer loamy soils, well fertilized with organic matter and mineral fertilizers. The looseness of the soil and the absence of stagnant water are welcomed, since they need abundant watering, but they do not like excessive moisture.
Sowing seeds, due to their small size, are not buried in the soil, leaving them on the surface.
They are attacked by a gluttonous aphid and their fellow countryman, the Colorado potato beetle.
Recommended:
Tobacco Dust To Help Gardeners
Probably, many have seen tobacco dust on sale in specialized stores. It is packed in ordinary transparent bags, and in bright colorful ones. But for him it is needed, especially not in a tobacco store, but in a specialized store for gardeners and gardeners?
Polyphagous Tobacco Thrips
Tobacco thrips is a pest of not only tobacco, but also pumpkin crops (both vegetables and melons). It damages vegetables mainly in greenhouses. In addition, tobacco thrips can sometimes damage lily crops. In general, this polyphagous parasite damages over one and a half hundred species of plants, both in protected and in open ground. Most often cotton, tobacco and onions are affected by the outbreaks of tobacco thrips. And you can meet this villain almost everywhere
Fragrant Tobacco - Decoration Of Any Flower Bed
Usually the word tobacco is associated with smoking and an unpleasant cigarette smell. But in this case, we will talk about very beautiful flowers that will decorate any flower bed. And also, if you plant this plant on your site, you can enjoy a very pleasant aroma, because it is not for nothing that this tobacco is called fragrant
Fragrant Tobacco Flowers
Today, when a fight has been declared against smoking in our country, it seems that it is not handy to write about a plant called "Tobacco". But even the wise ancient healers said that any plant can be both useful and harmful. To properly dispose of it, you need to know its positive and negative sides. Dangerous Tobacco has many useful properties. In addition, this beautiful ornamental plant with fragrant flowers can decorate a summer cottage garden
