Common name:
Desert tobacco
Family:
Scientific name:
Nicotiana obtusifolia
Main flower color:
Range:
From south California, eastwards to Texas
Height:
Between 8 and 32 inches
Habitat:
Washes, hillsides, scrubland; up to 5,500 feet
Leaves:
Ovate to lanceolate, entire, up to 4 inches long, glandular hairy
Season:
March to November
Flowers of nicotiana obtusifolia are small and rather inconspicuous, due in part to their dull coloration; pale cream, or greenish yellow, borne in clusters at the top of the leafy, grey-green stems. Lower stem leaves have short stalks while those higher up are clasping, and narrower. The flower cluster has a few leaf-like bracts around the base, while individual flowers are attached via a light green, five-lobed calyx which, like the stems, bracts and leaves, has a covering of short white hairs.
The tubular corolla is about one inch long, and it opens to five lobes, bent back a little below the plane when fully mature. Lobes are blunt-pointed, about the same length as the corolla diameter. They have a lengthwise groove down the middle. Inside the corolla tube are five stamens attached near the base; they are unequal in height, and not exserted.
The tubular corolla is about one inch long, and it opens to five lobes, bent back a little below the plane when fully mature. Lobes are blunt-pointed, about the same length as the corolla diameter. They have a lengthwise groove down the middle. Inside the corolla tube are five stamens attached near the base; they are unequal in height, and not exserted.
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