Indian tobacco

Images

Click on image to view full size

Indian tobacco

Indian tobacco leaf

Indian tobacco flower

Indian tobacco

Indian tobacco stem

Indian tobacco

Indian tobacco hypanthium

Morphology

Stem

Erect or ascending, usually branched above midpoint, narrowly winged, moderately or densely coarse-hairy or upper stem nearly glabrous.

Leaves

Alternate, simple, sessile or with winged stalk to 1/4 inch long; lower stem leaves elliptic or oblong egg-shaped, 1.6 to 3.6 inches long, .75 to 1.4 inch wide; upper surface nearly glabrous or sparsely hairy; lower surface pubescent on veins; margins irregularly toothed to scalloped or nearly entire; tip pointed to blunt; base wedge-shaped or sometimes rounded; upper stem leaves gradually reduced, sessile.

Inflorescence

Raceme, narrow, 1.2 to 8 inches long, loosely-flowereed, terminal on main stem and branches; 1 flower per node; bracts subtending each flower leaf-like, reduced upward.

Flower

Small, inconspicuous; calyx 1/8 to 2/5 inch long, glabrous; calyx lobes 5, linear, thread-like, tapering to points; corolla irregular, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, white to pale blue or light purple, 5-lobed; upper lobes 2, lanceolate, erect or bent backward; lower lobes 3, oblong, bent downward, pubescent at base within; stamens 5, mostly fused into tube; hypanthium becomes much inflated as fruit matures.

Fruit

Capsule, egg-shaped to ellipsoid, 1/4 to 2/5 inch long, 1/6 to 1/4 inch in diameter; seeds numerous, minute, orange to tan, narrowly ellipsoid.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist, open woods or disturbed areas, stream banks, pond and lake margins, old fields, roadsides; rich soils.

Distribution

East 1/4 of Kansas

Practical Information

Toxicity

Classified as poisonous by the Food and Drug Administration.

Uses

In the past, was used medicinally as an antidepressant and to treat asthma and bronchitis and was used as a deterrent to smoking, but these uses have been abandoned due to its toxic properties. Native Americans steeped the roots and leaves to create a wash for sores and applied a root poultice to body aches and rubbed the leaves on stiff necks. The plant was smoked as a tobacco substitute, was used to treat bites and stings, and was utilized as a love charm.