Nicotiana glauca
Blue-green tobacco
The blue-green tobacco (Nicotiana glauca ), or also known as shrub or tree tobacco tobacco, is a species of the genus tobacco (Nicotiana ).
Features
In contrast to most other tobacco species are the blue-green tobacco around a small tree or shrub that can reach heights of growth of up to 6 m. At the age the plants verkahlen very strong.
The blue- green, leathery, ovate and ganzrandigen leaves are on long petioles 3-12 cm, 5 to 25 cm long, the leaf base is truncated to heart-shaped, the point is blunt or pointed.
The inflorescences are Vielblütige, loose panicles, where the flowers are to 3 to 12 mm long pedicles. The cup is tubular and has a length of 1 to 1.5 cm. The Corolla lobe are uniform, triangular and pointed. The yellow to red crown is also tubular, having a length of 2.5 to 4.5 cm, and has a short Kronlappen. In the tube contains the stamens, which are nearly equal in length. The flowers are slightly protogyn, that is, the scar is only a short time after the popping of the anthers capable of fertilization. The flower about 20 ul of nectar are produced which attracts hummingbirds as potential pollinators.
The fruits are elliptic, 0.7 to 1.5 cm capsules in which a few hundred seeds are brown with a size of about 0.5 mm.
Dissemination
The blue-green tobacco is originally from Bolivia and Argentina, but is now naturalized in almost all tropical and subtropical areas of the world.
In the Mediterranean region, it is a characteristic species of open waste places such as roadsides, dumps etc.. He likes to grow near the coast. In contrast to most other types of tobacco he holds also slight frost.
Others
The Blue Green Tobacco contains only small amounts of nicotine, but the alkaloids anabasine and nornicotine. It was used less as a luxury but as a medicinal plant.
He is sometimes offered as an ornamental plant. Although it is a perennial plant, it is usually grown as an annual plant, as it is unsightly thereafter.
Because of its unpretentiousness of the tree tobacco is being investigated as potentially useful plant for the production of biofuels. Tree tobacco can be grown on land that is not suitable for arable sites in arid regions. A competition with food production would thus not given.