Sometimes growing to a height of 10 or 12 feet, the graceful swaying
branches of tree tobacco bear at their ends clusters of tubular,
greenish-yellow blossoms 2 to 3 inches long. The leaves contain the
alkaloid anabasine, which is poisonous to livestock. Leaves of the
closely related and much smaller desert tobacco, _Nicotiana
trigonophylla_, contain nicotine and have long been smoked by desert
Indians. The plant is still so used on ceremonial occasions. _Nicotiana_
was named for Jean Nicot, French ambassador to Portugal, who introduced
tobacco to France about 1560.
_Nicotiana glauca_ Potato Family
[Illustration: TREE TOBACCO]