Nicotiana quadrivalvis is a species ofwild tobacco known asIndian tobacco. The varietyN. quadrivalvis var.multivalvis is known by the common nameColumbian tobacco.[1] It is endemic to the western United States, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a bushy, sprawling annual herb growing up to two meters in maximum height. The lower leaf blades are up to 15 centimetres (6 in) long and are borne on shortpetioles, the upper smaller and sessile on the stem. Theinflorescence is an array of several white, greenish, or purple-tinged flowers with tubular throats up to 5 centimeters long. The base of each is enclosed in a ridged calyx ofsepals. The flower face may be 5 centimetres (2 in) wide. The fruit is a capsule up to 2 centimetres (3⁄4 in) in length.
| Nicotiana quadrivalvis | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Solanales |
| Family: | Solanaceae |
| Genus: | Nicotiana |
| Species: | N. quadrivalvis |
| Binomial name | |
| Nicotiana quadrivalvis | |
| Synonyms | |
Nicotiana bigelovii | |
It is also called "sacred tobacco,"[2] by differentNative American cultures.Nicotiana rustica can also be considered sacred.[3][4][5][6][7]
Cultivation
editNicotiana quadrivalvis has traditionally been cultivated byindigenous peoples living on the west coast of the United States, primarily in particular southernOregon and northernCalifornia, and along the middleColumbia River. Individually owned plots of tobacco plants were seeded with the previous year's seed capsules, tilled and weeded and fertilized in the fall by mixing in rotten wood after the harvest. The species was first described from the upperMissouri River where it was cultivated by theMandan andArikara.[8]
Further north, theHaida,Tlingit, and probablyTsimshian cultivate a related variety of tobacco long thought to have gone extinct,Nicotiana quadrivalvis var.multivalvis, in a similar manner. The original seeds must have been acquired from afar, as tobacco was not native to the northernNorthwest Coast.Myths reflecting this describe the supernatural original acquisition of the seeds.[9]
Seeds of var.multivalvis were brought to London by botanistDavid Douglas, having stolen them at night in 1825. The seeds found themselves in a seed bank inPuławy, Poland where they were returned to theConfederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians.[1]
References
edit- ^abBull, Brian (20 November 2023)."Once thought lost for good, Native Americans' prized tobacco is back in Oregon".KLCC | NPR for Oregonians. National Public Radio. Retrieved21 November 2023.
- ^Tonio, Sadik (March 28, 2014)."Traditional Use of Tobacco among Indigenous Peoples of North America"(PDF).
- ^Godlaski, Theodore M (November 2012)."Holy Smoke: Tobacco Use Among Native American Tribes in North America". Retrieved2019-12-28.
- ^Brokenleg, Isaiah."Walking towards the sacred"(PDF).glitc.org. Retrieved2019-12-28.
- ^Howard L. Harrod (February 1992).Renewing the World: Plains Indian Religion and Morality. University of Arizona Press. pp. 182–.ISBN 978-0-8165-1312-3.
- ^Setchell, William Albert (1921)."Aboriginal Tobaccos".American Anthropologist.23 (4):397–414.doi:10.1525/aa.1921.23.4.02a00020.JSTOR 660667.
- ^Tushingham, Shannon (September 26, 2018)."Biomolecular archaeology reveals ancient origins of indigenous tobacco smoking in North American Plateau"(PDF).Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.115 (46):11742–11747.doi:10.1073/pnas.1813796115.PMC 6243282.PMID 30373836. Retrieved2019-12-28.
- ^Pursh. Flora Americae Septentrionalis. 1814.[1]
- ^Deur, Douglas and Turner, Nancy J.Keeping it Living. University of Washington Press, 2005, p. 13.
External links
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