Nicotiana alata Link & Otto
Vernacular name: Jasmine Tobacco, Winged Tobacco
Species Name: Nicotiana alata Link & Otto
Family: Solanaceae
Habit: Annual or short-lived perennial herb.
Stem: Erect, branched, glandular-pubescent, 0.5–1.5 m tall.
Leaf: Alternate, ovate to lanceolate, 8–25 × 3–10 cm, entire, sessile to shortly petiolate, softly pubescent.
Flowering: Summer–autumn.
Flowers: Fragrant, especially at night; borne in terminal panicles; calyx tubular, 5-lobed; corolla salverform with a long tube and 5 spreading white, pink, red, or greenish lobes; stamens 5, epipetalous; ovary superior, bicarpellary.
Fruit: Ovoid capsule enclosed by the persistent calyx; many-seeded.
Uses:
- Popular ornamental grown for its fragrant nocturnal star-shaped flowers and long flowering season. Frequently planted in beds, borders, and pollinator gardens where it attracts moths, humming birds and other nectar-feeding insects. It is also used in horticultural breeding programs for ornamental tobacco cultivars.
- Plant parts like leaves and stem are used to make natural insecticide and pesticides against mites, spider and aphids.
- Due to presence of “Nicotine”, plant is used for somking and masticatory.
- Large quantity of Nicotine ingested can cause respiratory failure, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness and slow pulse.
- Plant has antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Its under research for anti-cancerous properties.
