General: Desert Tobacco (Nicotiana obtusifolia) is an upright herbaceous shrub with relatively large leaves for a desert plant (to 4 inches) and white, tubular flowers that later form urn-shaped capsules.

Desert Tobacco is an uncommon component of vegetation communities on well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone.

Family: Nightshade (Solanaceae).

Other Names: Nicotiana trigonophylla.

Plant Form: Upright perennial herb growing from a woody base with fairly large, pointed leaves for a desert shrub.

Height: 2-3 feet tall.

Stems: Upright

Leaves: Fairly large for a desert plant (to 4 inches long), oval; lower leaves with short petiole; upper leaves narrower, clasping, pointed.

Flowers: Generally blooms late spring and early summer. Also flowers during early spring if conditions permit. Inflorescence: several flowers near the stem tips. Flower: white, tubular, about 1-inch long.

Seeds: Fruit: urn-shaped capsule, 1/3 inch long, containing many small seeds.

Habitat: Dry, well-drained sandy, gravelly, and rocky soils on upper bajadas and moderate slopes in the lower mountains.

Elevation: To about 5,000 feet.

Distribution: California to Utah and Texas, south in to Mexico.

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