Nicotiana rustica L.
Annual 1-2 m tall, very viscid. Young shoots densely glandular-hairy. Lvs with wingless petiole 2-5 cm long. Lamina to c. 20 × 11 cm on lower lvs, becoming smaller towards the infl., broadly ovate-oblong to almost elliptic, puberulent and somewhat glandular-scaly; base truncate; apex obtuse to rounded. Panicle with several open branches, many-flowered. Fls not fragrant. Calyx 1-2.2 cm long; teeth 2-8 mm long, unequal, ovate or broadly ovate, densely glandular-hairy, obtuse to acute. Corolla 1.5-2 cm long, ± funnelform-campanulate, puberulent outside but scarcely glandular; tube pale green; lobes 2-3 mm long, shallow and wide, greenish yellow, crinkled, becoming somewhat reflexed, obtuse or mucronate. Capsule 1-1.5 cm long, broad-ovate. Seed c. 1 mm long, ± broad-reniform, undulately ridged.
S.: 1 specimen from Springston (Canterbury), local in Cromwell and Alexandra areas (C. Otago).
Origin unknown, presumably tropical America 1940
Dry open or disturbed sites, gardens.
FL Feb-Apr.
N. rustica is cultivated as a crop at Riwaka, near Nelson. It has often been used for tobacco and as a source of nicotine products in various countries, but like its relative N. tabacum it can be very harmful when smoked.
The record of N. glutinosa L. wild in Canterbury is almost certainly based on a specimen of N. rustica (CHR 172566, Springston, Canterbury, Healy, 22.4.1966; A. J. Healy, pers. comm.). N. glutinosa is not known in cultivation in N.Z.
