By George Kuepper and Raeven Thomas,
Updated by Katherine Adam
NCAT Agriculture Specialist © 2008 NCAT
Introduction
There are several species of tobacco, all of them native to the Americas. Nicotiana tabacum L. is the most widely grown, providing virtually all the domestic leaf used in commercial production of cigars, cigarettes, and smokeless tobacco products. Another species, N. rustica, more commonly grown overseas, has generated interest because of its high nicotine content, useful in the making of insecticides and for other
specialized uses. However, N. rustica is not a well-domesticated species and is reputedly difficult to grow, in the absence of varietal improvement. A selection of tobacco books, focusing on N. rustica, is offered by the Ethnobotanical Catalog of Seeds, published by the seed company J.L. Hudson, Seedsman (www.JLHudsonSeeds.net).