Plant showing mix of last-year stems and current-year leaves and flowers |
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 form urn-shaped capsules. The flowers are about 1-inch long (shorter than other species). The entire plant is sticky glandular.
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. |
The entire plant is sticky glandular |
Plant Form: Upright herbaceous shrub growing from a woody base with fairly large leaves for a desert plant.
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. Sticky glandular.
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. Sticky glandular. |
Flowers are white and tubular |
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.
Comments: This plant is dried and smoked by native peoples, but I do not know the amount nor any affects. |